Once a Jedi
by ficklefan
Summary: She thought she was out of it. They had exiled her and cut her off from the Force. Turns out, this isn't a life you can just walk away from. Follows the events of KOTOR 2.
1. Awaken

"Awaken."

She heard the word in her head and acted without thought, waking cold and wet in a glass tank and unfamiliar room. Breaking free from the tubes that held her, she escaped the tank and crawled her way to the center of the room where she lay unmoving for a few moments. She tried pushing herself up, but fell back to the floor with a thud, deciding the ground was preferable.

After what felt like a very long time, she managed to pull herself up and survey her new surroundings. She found herself in the center of a ring of flashing lights and beeping monitors. It was a medbay and the tank she had been in was of the kolto variety. She must have been injured quite badly, but she had no recollection of what had happened to her or the events that had brought her to this place.

The other four tanks in the room held what seemed to be workmen of some sort, they were dressed in matching gray and blue uniforms. Judging from their lifeless bodies, she did not think that even the healing waters of the kolto tanks could help them anymore. The incessant beeping coming from the angry sounding machines behind their glass cases seemed to echo her thoughts.

She looked down at herself then and noticed she was in nothing but an undersuit and her sneakers. Something would probably need to be done about that, so she set off in search of information and hopefully some clothing.

It didn't take her long to uncover some of what had happened here. She learned from a medical computer the name of the ship that had brought her to this station, the _Ebon Hawk_, and also that she had arrived with two droids and a deceased woman. Still, none of that seemed the least bit familiar to her.

Additionally, she learned where here was, a Peragus mining colony, located inside of a large asteroid somewhere in the asteroid belt circling Peragus II. There were vague memories of something about a mining explosion a few years before that had rendered the planet unusable, nothing concrete. She was aware however, that this was still an important source of fuel for the Republic.

Slicing into the medic logs told her there had been some sort of massive droid malfunction on the station and that the men in the tanks had been administered a lethal dose of tranquilizers. For that matter, so had she. She didn't know yet if those things were related, but they both seemed worth investigating. Noticing that the morgue was across the hall she unlocked that door via the console.

There were two bodies in the morgue, one an elderly woman and the other a young man in the same uniform as those she had seen in the tanks. She was examining the male body for signs he had met the same fate as those other unfortunate souls when a noise from behind caught her by surprise.

"Find what you are looking for amongst the dead?"

A voice she recognized. The one from the tank. This must be the woman her medical records said she had arrived with. The one who's body she had just passed. How had she ended up in here?

"Your voice - it was the one I heard as I floated in the kolto tank."

She didn't like the idea of someone in her head.

The woman was old, but it was hard to judge just how old, covered as she was, from head to foot in a brown cloak that masked her face in shadow.

"I am Kreia, and I am your rescuer - as you are mine. Tell me - do you recall what happened."

"Not a thing," she replied carefully. "The last thing I remember, I was on board a Republic ship, the_ Harbinger_... what happened to it?"

"I confess I know little more than you do... I do not know where here is," admitted Kreia.

"The Peragus mining facility." She realized a hint of smugness had crept into her voice. This woman set her on edge.

If Kreia noticed her tone, she did not show it. "I do recall rescuing you... the Republic ship you were on was attacked, and you were the only survivor. A result of your Jedi training, no doubt."

How could the woman know about that? The insight left her feeling less sure of herself.

"If you think I am a Jedi, you are greatly mistaken."

"Your stance, your walk tells me you are a Jedi. Your walk is heavy, you carry something that weighs you down," came the old woman's response.

"The Jedi Order and I have a... troubled history."

She said it in a voice she hoped would end this line of questioning.

"So it would seem. Keep your past - and let us focus on the now," said Kreia.

She took a moment then to examine the woman more closely. Far older than she, the woman's eyes were completely hooded and her cloak resembled the robes of a Jedi master. From these few minutes of cryptic conversation, however, she decided that whatever this not dead woman was, it probably wasn't Jedi. She tried peeking under the hood, but without much success.

They spoke at length, the old woman seemed to know some of what had happened, briefing her on the attack of the Republic ship, the _Harbinger_, which was the last place she could recall being. She also hinted at a nameless enemy that was supposedly on their tail. If she was correct, quick thinking was required.

She had expected Kreia to want to accompany her further into the facility, there was safety in numbers after all, but instead the older woman sat down on the floor of the morgue and began to meditate. Very odd, but she left her there with a warning of caution and went off in search of more survivors. She was quietly relieved she hadn't been asked for her own name yet.

Dead bodies littered the rooms beyond. It was never easy to see the results of battle and she was saddened by the sight, but she had long ago learned to not let her emotions, strong as they were at times, cloud an objective. Right now, getting off this facility was her main priority. Finding a vibroblade near one hapless victim, she immediately put it to use against a few of the droids she held responsible for the carnage.

She had to fight her way through several rooms of those aggressive mining droids, but she was rewarded with a few more answers when she sliced a security console.

The security officer's logs strongly suggested all of these troubles started happening after she had arrived. She frowned at that. Those would be more lives to add to her death toll. In fact, she still hadn't found anyone alive besides the old woman back in the morgue. Something told her she could not trust Kreia. Something else she'd learned from the logs nagged at her as well. There was a bounty out for Jedi. She had been gone a long time.

It was true, she had actually been one of them. If Padawan counted for anything anyways, she couldn't count the ranks she had received after the war started. She had left her Masters behind to follow Revan, to aid the Republic before the Mandalorians could overtake them all, because there had been no other choice.

No other choice. She had been so certain of it at the time. Ten years in the Outer Rim can do much to a perspective. For her part in the war she had been exiled and worse, a little over a decade ago, but if the security records were any indicator, that wouldn't matter much to anyone hunting Jedi.

Before leaving the security desk, she flipped through the stations of the remote camera. Empty room. Empty room. Droids, more droids. But finally, she found what she was looking for. Locked in a holding cell was a human man. Alive. He was a relatively attractive man with dark brown hair, and he was wearing a leather jacket. His mouth was moving. He seemed to be talking to himself, there didn't appear to be anyone else around. Where were the guards or jailer?

Realizing she had been watching him longer than was strictly necessary, she quickly shut off the feed and headed for the next room. She would find him soon enough.

She was fighting yet another malfunctioning droid when all of the sudden it flowed through her, stunning the droid just before her blade cut through its metal carcass. The Force! It had abandoned her all those years ago, the emptiness that loss had left had been a wound deeper than any vibroblade could ever cut, one that she had thought could never be healed. But here it was, the Force, within her reach again. She could hear it like a song, quiet, but constant, playing in the back of her head.

And then that Kreia woman was there in her head again, too.

"Ah... you hear it. It is faint... but it is there."

How could the woman possibly know? And how was she able to do that?

But everything else were completely eclipsed by the Force. It was all she could hear. All she could feel. She dropped to her knees. The feeling of being once again connected to the universe around her in such a way after so long was overwhelming. She hadn't remembered just how alone she had been all those years until she suddenly wasn't. One just can not understand the power behind "May the Force be with you" until it is not.

She sat in that room, as stunned as the droid she had just decimated, for a few minutes. Alone, yet not alone for the first time in a very long time. She just listened. But it could not last, this crisis was like all the others she had faced since leaving the Enclave to fight in a war she was too young to have anything to do with. Impatient and demanding of her immediate attention. She pulled herself together and back to her feet and continued through the next door, wiping away tears she hadn't noticed had fallen.

When she finally made her way to the bridge, there were plenty more damaged mining droids to fight through, and a sealed door to the containment center. When she reached the door, she heard Kreia's voice in her head once more.

"...ah... beyond this door someone yet lives... be mindful... his thoughts are... difficult to read... but you have nothing to fear from this one... and he may yet prove useful..."

She ignored the older woman. Whoever he was, she would help him. She would save any she could at this point. She needed to, had to even. Too many lives had already been lost on her account and if the Force had found her again, she wasn't about to squander this second chance. She easily found the override and headed towards the holding cells.


	2. Winning Streak

Atton was on a hot streak. He'd won the last seventeen games in a row. Any casino on any planet, he had a rough idea of how many credits up he should be about now.

Of course, he wasn't at a casino. He wasn't even on a planet. He was locked in a holding cell on a damned mining colony on the edge of the galaxy. And he wasn't even guilty of what he'd been accused of. Not very guilty anyways. He hadn't seen another person in... well, he wasn't sure how long, space was funny like that.

So he was playing pazaak. In his head. And he was just about to win game number eighteen.

"...switch the +3/-3 card, the totals are eleven-"

His train of thought was suddenly interrupted when a determined looking woman in her underwear and a pair of red running shoes strode into the room brandishing a giant sword.

Like so often happened these days, he said the first thing that popped into his head. "Nice outfit - what, you miners change regulation uniforms while I've been in here?"

The woman bristled. "I'd keep those eyes up, and tell me who you are."

Looking at her face this time, he could see that she was no miner. Even on a station this size, no one that looked like _that_ could have escaped his attention for long. He decided to be charming.

"Atton... Atton Rand. Excuse me if I don't shake hands. The field only causes mild electrical burns. And you are?" He wasn't sure where all the guards had disappeared to, but she might be his only shot off this rock.

She ignored his question and countered with one of her own. "Care to explain why you're locked up?"

He thought fast. "Security claimed I violated some trumped-up regulation or another - take it up with them if you want but they stopped listening to me shortly before they stopped feeding me. Now that's criminal."

"This facility's deserted. What happened?" she asked.

"You mean, before or after the Jedi showed up?" Her expression faltered slightly and he regretted his choice of words. "You see, this Jedi shows up, and you know what that means."

Her visible confusion told him she didn't. He spent the next however long explaining everything that had happened in practically the last ten years. It was like she'd been living under a rock. He told her about the miners turning on the administration here over the bounty on that unconscious Jedi.

"Then there was some big explosion, I was sitting here for a long time, then you showed up in your underwear and things got a lot better." He grinned at her.

She smirked and continued with the questions. She asked about the Jedi Civil War. She didn't seem to know much about the Sith. She asked a whole lot of questions about Revan and Malek. She kept coming back to Revan. What had Revan done at the end of the war, where was she now? Like he would know that. He wasn't sure anyone knew that.

Revan had defeated Malek in some kind of epic final battle and then disappeared years ago. Sith stuff, not his problem.

He mentioned the Mandalorian Wars and her face went blank. He knew enough about reading people to know it was time to change the subject if he planned on getting out of this force field anytime soon. He went back to Revan.

"Dark Jedi are bad enough, but when a woman falls to the dark side, you better space yourself before they catch you. Uh, no offense or anything." He'd meant it as a joke, but her face was inscrutable.

"None taken," she said flatly. "I had more questions for you."

"Look, not like your half-naked interrogation isn't a personal fantasy of mine, but-" It dawned on him. "Hey, wait a minute - you're that Jedi the miners were talking about. Where is everybody?"

"I don't know. There were malfunctioning droids. And bodies, a lot of bodies. But not enough, there ought to be more people on a space station this size."

Jedi were supposed to be all cool calm and serenity, but this woman anything but. He could easily see her breaking under the weight of what was happening here. He wasn't the type of guy who cared, who got attached, as a steadfast rule. But looking at this woman, he found he did. He could see her pain and he felt it too somehow. He hurt too. For the people of Peragus. And for her, he wanted to help her. Atton didn't understand the impulse and he really didn't like it.

"Look - hey, let me out, and I can help you. I can. I've gotten out of trouble countless times." The words were out of his mouth before he knew it. "Trust me."

She walked up to the holding cell, directly in front of him, and looked him in the eyes for an uncomfortably long time. He had to stop himself from shifting under those considering eyes. Realizing he was holding his breath, he forced himself to let it out evenly as she stepped back again.

"Alright. I trust you - let me let you out of that cage and we can work together to get out of this mess."

Her mouth turned up into an almost smile and she turned towards the controls.

He was about to explain the sequence to unlocking them when the force field dissolved around him. He wouldn't have expected that. He stepped out of the ring and stretched. She was shorter than he had noticed before. He took a leisurely moment then to look her up and down, and when he returned his gaze to her face, she was looking right at him, not looking amused. He winked at her.

"Why don't you just walk in front of me?" She took a step back.

"Have it your way, sweetheart."

Stopping in front of the command console, he hit a couple buttons. "Pure pazaak - the console's ours. Now, all we need is to..." he trailed off then.

"Sounds like you're about to tell me something I don't want to hear."

None of this made any sense. He looked back at her. The system had been severed at the main hub, after being locked down by remote. Whoever wanted her, wanted her very badly.

She was looking over his shoulder now. "That's not standard procedure!" she exclaimed.

He was overly aware of how close she was to him then. "No - someone tried to lock down this whole level tight, and leave us here. Trapped." He added the last part reluctantly.

She pushed past him to the console and started running her hands deftly over the controls.

"Be my guest - not much else we can do." He backed off.

She spoke into the console, "Can you read me?"

She was answered by some beeps and whistles. Great, another droid. He rolled his eyes.

"Do a diagnostic, then follow my instructions." She waited.

Some more beeps, followed by some clicking.

"We're trapped up on the administration level. Can you unlock the turbolifts?"

He had stopped listening to the machine on the other end of the line, but her reply caught his attention.

"Atton Rand," she said. "Nevermind that."

Another beep.

"I'd rather risk it than be trapped up here."

"What was that about?" he asked.

She turned away from the console. "He's opening an emergency hatch."

Not really an answer to his question.

They waited in silence for a few long minutes before he decided to break it. "So, uh, how long have you been a Jedi? Must be tough, you know... no family, no husband..."

She gave him a sidelong glance. "No tougher than enduring your false sympathy while you're staring at my chest."

"Hey, I wasn't trying-" he was cut off by a series of beeps. "What do you know, that little cargo cylinder came through."

His new companion was frowning. "It looks like it. But it's strange he didn't contact us on the comm."

She tossed him a mining laser. "You might need this while I'm gone."

"Wait, wait. Don't tell me you're taking that hatch into the mining tunnels alone... are you?" His voice sounded a little tighter to his ears than he had intended. He tried reason. "That explosion I heard came from below. There's probably nothing down there except superheated rock and collapsed blast tunnels. You'd be an idiot to go down there."

She made a face at the last bit. "Be that as it may, it's the only way out, and it's better I risk my life than yours. This is because of me."

To that, he didn't really know what to say. "You're either really brave or really crazy - or both."

As she started to walk away he stopped her, impulsively reaching out and putting his hand on her shoulder. "Uh, not that I care what happens to you or anything. I just don't want to be trying to get off this rock by myself."

She looked at the hand on her shoulder and then at him, giving him another one of those inscrutable looks. "Your concern is noted. I'll be going now."

She walked away mechanically.

Somehow he felt like he had really blown it. He called after her, "I'll keep the comlink open... I may be able to guide you through the tunnels from up here."

And then she was gone and he was alone on the bridge. The station seemed much more like a ghost ship without her. The emptiness felt much more pressing in the open spaces of the bridge than it had in that hole of a holding cell. He tried to get back to his pazaak game, but found he couldn't concentrate. He realized he hadn't ever got her name.

"Can you read me?" he said over the comlink.

A garbled response came back, "Yes... for a minute, I thought" and then faded into static. Her voice sounded funny.

"What did you say?" He didn't know why, but he had to work to keep the worry from his voice. "Your signal's crammed with static."

When she finally came in clear again, he found her directions on the command console that should lead to the Peragus fuel depot. He tried warning her about the number of droid broadcasts in the area but she seemed unconcerned.

Then he added "Be careful down there, it doesn't look good on the map."

He wasn't sure where that had come from.

"Thought you didn't care."

When he saw on the control map that she had reached the supply room, he spoke up again. "Find the emergency supplies?"

"Yes... and it looks like there's some clothes in here."

"Dammit." He had just said that out loud.

She laughed; no, she snorted. Then the link went quiet.

"Uh, I mean good, good to hear it. No sense in you running around half-naked. It's... it's distracting... I mean, for the droids." Not his best work.

"For the droids?"

He stopped talking for a while.

Things had been quiet for a bit when he looked down to see the sensors in the blast tunnel going crazy. He opened the comlink. "Hey, I'm picking up some strange readings - what are you doing down there?"

There was a pause before she asked, "What kind of readings?"

What _was_ she doing down there?

"The containment fields in the mining tunnels are shutting down," he said. "You need to get out of there."

"How much time do I have?"

"I may be able to keep it contained until you get the lift to the fuel depot, but not for much longer."

And then the line went dead.


	3. Murder is Murder

Atton wouldn't say he started to panic exactly, but it was with a definite sense of urgency that he tried to restore communications. She hadn't just dropped off the comm, she'd dropped off the grid; she was no longer anywhere on the control map.

He waited for what felt like ages, just watching the main controls do nothing. When the not knowing became unbearable, he started talking himself into taking the emergency shaft into the blast tunnels himself. He knew better than that. But before he could make up his mind, the console lit up and her lifesign sensor appeared again.

"It's about time. I lost your signal after you left the mining tunnels. Now you're coming in clear." He felt like he did a pretty good job masking his relief.

Looking closer at the map, what he saw made no sense. "...except I'm picking you up on the exterior of the facility, on the asteroid's surface. That can't be right."

"Really? Maybe you should look up." For the first time, she sounded amused.

He looked up. Right out the front window of the bridge, on the scaffolding surrounding the asteroid, there she was, bouncing past him in a ridiculous space suit.

"Huh? What are you doing out there?"

Her voice came back over the comlink, "I'm just taking a relaxing walk."

"You're crazy. Even for a Jedi."

"I'm not a Jedi."

"Sure could have fooled me," he said.

"Would that be hard?"

He was about to say something that would most definitely get him into trouble, but thought better of it. She didn't need to know about his history with the Jedi order yet, hopefully ever.

Changing the subject, she explained, "I need to reach the miners in the dormitory section, and this is the only way to get there."

"There's nobody left on this rock, we have to get out of here." She had to see that.

"There might be survivors. I _have_ to try."

Her tone made him drop it. He switched to more pressing concerns. The screen was flashing something, flashing was usually bad.

"Look, you need to get out of there... quick."

"I'm trying to pick up the pace, believe me." Her voice was strained now.

Looking over the ventilation readings, he saw the problem. The vents were purposely being re-routed to vent the gases to the exterior, right in her path, and only in the last few minutes. He tried reversing it, but hit a block in the maintenance systems.

Then he noticed another incoming notification.

"Oh, what now?!" he muttered. "I don't believe this - there's a ship coming in, sending a docking code."

He watched warily out the front window. Atton had lived a long time, made it out of a lot of tight situations. Throughout, he'd developed a sort of extra sense, one that warned him when his life was in danger, one that kept Atton Rand alive against all the odds. And every fiber of his being told him that the massive Republic warship that was slowly pulling into dock was not a good thing.

"I have a bad feeling about this," he said.

A subdued response came back over the comlink. "Me too. I was on that ship when it was attacked. Aboard that ship is the last place I remember being before I woke up here."

"Oh."

There was a long silence over the line as a docking port and fuel tube connected the Republic ship to the mining station.

When she spoke again, her voice sounded hesitant. "There's a droid on the station, an assassin unit. I think he's responsible for everything that's happened here."

He looked back down at the control readings; that would explain some things.

"He's after the bounty on Jedi so you shouldn't be a target, but take care just in case. He's already killed dozens trying to get to me."

She must have re-entered the station after that, because the link was filled with static again. So he found himself waiting again, with a growing sense of unease. He spent his time nosing around the main logs, where at least he was able to learn a few things about his new associate. Her name wasn't mentioned, but the name of the ship she arrived on, the _Ebon Hawk_, was one he recognized. That was a notorious smuggling vessel, well known in certain systems.

How had she ended up on it? If what she said was true, she didn't even know. And what had happened to her? She had arrived here unconscious, that much he'd heard from the crew before they had all disappeared, but no one had mentioned why.

He was still sifting through the logs when she reappeared before him, this time fully clothed in the blue and brown of the miner's uniform, and with an old woman in tow. He frowned.

"What in space is going on? Who's this? Another Jedi? What, did you guys suddenly start breeding when I wasn't looking?"

He was getting pretty tired of so many unanswered questions.

"Atton, there's no time to explain." It was the first time she'd used his name. "Grab that mining laser I gave you and follow me."

"Uh... all right. I'm guessing that Republic ship that just docked isn't carrying friends of yours."

The old woman following his new friend spoke up, "I hope your talent for understatement is offset by your skill with a blaster. If not, then I fear our time together will be short indeed."

Atton did not like her.

"Yeah, and I'm also good at running and drinking, your majesty," he answered dryly.

He could really use a drink about now.

"And even if you two aren't big friends of the Republic, that warship's the only way off this station."

He started to lead the way.

"Good thing we have a clear run to the shi..." He was cut off.

"Threat: Master, perhaps I did not enunciate clearly the last time we spoke. I suggested that you should shut down, stay put, and wait for rescue."

A droid, an assassin droid by his guess, stood blocking their path.

The droid had a silvery metallic finish and glowing orange optics. He stood half a head taller than Atton and was carrying a rifle. He seriously doubted that was the only weapon the construct had at his disposal.

A voice behind him said, "No, you were clear, I just don't listen to assassin droids." The voice of his pretty companion was now that of ice. He turned back to look at her.

"The 'friend' you were telling me about?" Atton asked.

"Clarification: 'Assassination droid' is such a crude term, master, reserved for durasteel drones uploaded with only the most archaic kill programs," came the hollow response. "The function I perform has been referred to as 'wanton slaughter.' I prefer to see it as a means of facilitating communication, resulting in the termination of hostilities."

"Whatever you say, murder is murder," the woman practically snarled.

"So, definitely not a friend," Atton said.

He pulled out the blaster she had given him.

"Correction: I am not here to argue semantics, master, so I will simply inform you that you are wrong - as were those recently-corrected miners."

Her face contorted in rage at the mention of the miners, but he saw her quickly suppress it. She said wearily, "Enough of this - you won't take me without a fight."

She was already advancing on the droid when it said, "Resignation: Very well, Master. If inflicting pain is the only means to resolve this matter, you leave me no choice." Then four floating mines appeared, flanking the assassin on either side. She raised her sword and advanced on the offensive party.

Seeing her in combat was something else. Before she could reach the assassin droid, she had already blasted all four of the round, floating mines with the Force. He didn't know what she had done exactly, but they exploded mid-air and all of the sudden, there she was, slicing easily through the assassin with her vibroblade. She only had to hack at him a few times before his circuits were completely fried.

As soon as it was done, she began digging through the remains, searching for salvageable parts.

The whole thing was over before he knew it. He'd been so distracted watching her, and it had happened so quickly, that he hadn't even had a chance to join the fight. His blaster was in his hand, unfired. The old woman hadn't even moved.

He noticed then that their elderly associate hadn't spoken again since the assassin had shown up. She was standing in the background, silently watching the younger woman from under her cowl.

No, he didn't like her at all.

When his pretty new friend had taken all she wanted from the remains of the assassin, they regrouped and formed a plan. They all knew the only chance they had at getting off of this colony involved boarding the newly docked Republic ship, but he didn't think walking blindly aboard an overthrown vessel was a good idea. No one seemed interested in his opinion.

This time, he let her lead the way.


	4. A Bad Feeling

She stood just inside the airlock of the_ Harbinger _with Atton and Kreia. She knew the ship, not well, but she'd walked these corridors before. There had always been people before though. Noise. Life. Now, except for her and her two companions, she felt nothing.

Kreia said, "Something is wrong... I sense no one on board."

"You sense no one on board?" Atton said incredulously. "Sense any assassin droids creeping up behind us like last time?"

"Everyone has been slain, yet there are few signs of battle, no carbon scoring, no blaster fire. This place has been hit by assassins of a different sort."

"Then what are we doing on this ship? We were better off in the facility!" He turned from Kreia and spun to face her. "You two are supposed to be Jedi? You two are the worst Jedi I have ever met!"

He was pointing at her accusingly, practically poking her in the chest. It was almost funny.

Straightening her face and said, "It's not too late to dump you back in the security room."

He glowered, but before he could make the retort she knew would be coming, Kreia stepped in. "We cannot go back into the facility."

She focused her attention back to the older woman.

"Why not?"

Kreia said, "If the assassin machine was correct, then we cannot reach the hanger..."

She started to speak, but Kreia raised a hand to quiet her, "Be silent, I need time to think."

Ignoring the older woman again, she continued on. "I saw this vessel dock - when it did, a fuel pipe entered the fuel depot, behind the force field."

"Look, I don't mean to cast another shadow on this, but even if you could reach the ship you came on, it wouldn't matter. You'll need the orbital drift charts to clear the Peragus asteroid field, unless you want to have the shortest flight out of Peragus ever recorded."

She gave Atton a pointed look. "Then how did this ship dock here?"

He sighed. "Well, of course, they have the asteroid drift charts in their navicomputer. They'd have to."

She did smile at him this time, but it was a smile of victory. "So, let's get their codes, then. Then we can worry about reaching the _Ebon Hawk_."

Atton tried one last time. "Well, we'd have to get to the bridge. I mean... well, that's the biggest problem I can see."

"That is a sound plan - for the moment," said Kreia. "Let us go."

Atton said, "All right... but this won't end well, trust me." She was already halfway down the corridor.

This ship's crew had fared as badly as the asteroid's; there were dead bodies in most of the rooms they passed through. And then some Sith assassins. They remained cloaked in stealth fields until they had the trio surrounded, but it was nothing they were not equipped for. Well, that she was not equipped for, she didn't actually know very much about her new traveling companions. She turned to make sure they were unharmed.

Atton was eying Kreia like she was a rancor, but he seemed no worse for the wear. She got the impression he trusted Kreia as little as she herself did. When she looked at Kreia, she saw the old woman standing behind him, a thin grimace of disapproval on her shrouded face. Nothing new there.

They found the briefing room and she took a few minutes to be briefed. There was very little new information in their logs, though she was surprised to learn an admiral had taken an interest in her. Onassi... she had never heard of him. But as the mentions of a passenger and special treatment and diplomatic immunity began to stack up, she could feel Atton's questioning eyes in the back of her neck. She self-consciously flipped off the holovid.

He didn't say anything.

The bridge of the _Harbinger_ was littered with dead officers. "What was wrong with these people?" she said in frustration. "They should have been more prepared for this."

Atton said, "Most people don't handle a Sith assassination squad with your... relative ease."

She was angry and didn't feel like letting them off the hook.

"This is not like Peragus, these people were not civilians, they were soldiers. Officers. Men and women who were trained for this."

"But none of them could hear the Force." Kreia's voice came from behind Atton.

She chose not to listen, slicing into the navicomputer to download the orbital drift charts and stomping off towards the crew quarters, leaving her two companions no choice but to follow.

When they arrived at her destination she said, "I just need a second - this was my room."

She didn't start moving.

"Are you alright?" said Kreia.

When she received no answer, Kreia prodded her again, "We do not have much time. Whatever you intend to do, do it quickly."

This time she moved. She walked towards the door. Atton looked like he intended to follow, but he remained planted where he was. And then the door closed behind her and she was alone.

She looked around her at the sterile ship quarters. This had not been home. No place had been home since Dantooine and the Jedi Enclave. She had only just been picked up by this ship a week or so before, somewhere in the Outer Rim. She'd been just another lost soul out there.

She walked over to the footlocker on the far wall. Opening it, she rummaged through the contents and was relieved when she pulled out a red armband. She immediately put it on. That armband was the one thing she had left from her old life. It had been a gift from Master to Apprentice when she had been raised to Padawan.

Kavar. But she didn't have time to let herself think about past mistakes, not right now.

Before she closed the lid to the footlocker, one other thing caught her attention. It was a datapad with an ominous request for her to report to the med lab for a "routine examination."

She left her old room behind and said to the others, "We're going to the med bay."

The path to the medical bay brought more Sith assassins. During the fight, Atton took a slice to the shoulder with one of those vicious looking double-sided blades their opponents were all using. As soon as the last assassin had been dealt with, she went to see about his wound. Kreia was looking over the contents of the corpses they had made.

"We need to get that taken care of," she said. "Hurry up." She was ushering him into the medical bay.

He winced when she removed his jacket to get a better look. "Can't you just use the Force on it or something? Heal it?"

She felt her face falling and immediately gained control of her expression. She replied stiffly, "I can't. I'm not that good yet."

"What do you mean, you're not that good yet?" he said, eying her suspiciously.

Focusing on his injury and refusing to let herself look up, she said, "I used to be able to. Then I lost the Force. Now it's back, but just barely."

"How does that happen?" he asked.

"The Jedi Council saw fit to revoke my powers," she said while she worked on the wound.

"They can do that?" He sounded surprised.

"So it would seem."

He must have not known what to say to that because he didn't reply. He just sat there and watched her while she cleaned the affected area, bandaged it up and then applied a medpac. She never looked up, but she could feel him watching her work.

When she was done, she bent down to hand him back his jacket. She gasped when he grabbed hold of her wrist, squeezing it slightly.

His voice was tight when he said, "How do you get in my head like you do?"

She froze, thinking of Kreia, and the voice in the back of her head. Pulling her hand away, she took a long step back, looking at him, afraid of what he was going to say next.

"Look-" whatever he had been about to say was cut off when Kreia walked into the room.

They both turned to her as the old woman said, "What do you suppose happened here?"

She looked behind her and noticed for the first time, a supersized tank of some sort that had been shattered. How in space had she missed that? An inspection of the tank yielded nothing, but the medical computer had a very interesting holo of a man floating in the tank, missing one eye, his gray skin completely covered in scars. The hologram of the man woke up and burst through the glass, escaping the tank. She couldn't imagine the kind of strength that would require. She looked at her companions. Atton looked like he was thinking the same thing she was, shifting uncomfortably and looking back up at the tank. Kreia was impassive as always.

"So... that might be loose." She tried to keep her tone light.

Atton said, "Maybe it's time we leave. We have the drift charts."

"Let me finish with this console." She checked one last log. It was enough to confirm what she'd already suspected. She'd been drugged on this vessel and taken aboard the _Ebon Hawk_, probably by that assassin droid she'd already dealt with.

"Yes, I would like very much to get off this ship." She led them out of the medical bay.

She tried to retrace her previous path, but she must have taken a wrong turn because they found themselves in a dark corridor she hadn't seen before.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"Would you stop saying that?" She really didn't need him telling her things were bad, she _knew_ things were bad.

"But don't you feel it?" he said. "Something's gonna get real wrong real quick."

"We'll be careful, then. But we have to keep moving."

She didn't want to admit that she was lost.

She heard Atton say under his breath, "All right, but don't say I didn't warn ya."

And then he was there, the man with the scars, and the gray skin, and the missing eye. A Sith Lord, emanating hate and rage and most of all, power. She drew her weapon, but Kreia rushed ahead of them.

"This battle is mine alone," Kreia said. "I am not defenseless."

"What?"

The woman couldn't be serious.

"He cannot kill what he cannot see, and power has blinded him long ago. Run. I shall be along shortly."

"You can't mean to face him alone," she called after Kreia, but it was too late.

The doors had already slid closed behind her. She rushed to the door, only to find that it was sealed shut. She tried using a security spike to slice the lock, but it was no use. When she bent down to set a demolition charge, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up, feeling defeated.

"I'm sorry about the old woman, but she did that so we could have time to get out of here... don't you think we should go?"

She knew he was right. She got to her feet. He backed away and didn't say another word while she tried to remember which way would lead them off of this ghost ship. When she found an entrance to the maintenance shaft she took it and they passed down around the engines to the fuel line connecting the _Harbinger_ to the asteroid.

"Tell me you're joking. We are not going to cross back into the Peragus facility through the fuel line - that's crazy!"

Atton looked like he was questioning the chain of command.

She turned towards him, putting her hand on his arm. "Atton, you need to trust me. Come on."

He looked back in the direction of the Sith. "Alright..." he said. "But I know I'm going to regret this."

They had nearly made it into the tunnels when everything went red. Searing pain spread throughout her body, all starting from one point. Her left hand. She screamed.

"Wh- What's wrong?" Atton was hovering above her.

"Are you alright?" He looked worried.

She started to get up; when had she lain down? She was falling backwards again, but this time, Atton was there, pulling her to her feet.

"Dammit, hold on!" he was saying. "It's only a little further. Don't give up on me now!"

She snapped out of it, shaking her head slowly.

When she was standing upright again, he said, "What happened to you?"

"Kreia..." she started. "I think she was wounded... badly."

"Huh?" said Atton. "How do you know that?"

"I just do," she snapped.

She didn't feel like discussing whatever connection she seemed to have established with the older woman with this man right now. She hardly knew him.

"Look," he said. "If she's in pain, then that pain's buying us time we can't afford to waste."

He stepped back and said, "Especially if sleeps-with-vibroblades gets tired of playing with her and decides to use us for practice next time."

He was right, again. "All right... let's go."


	5. Some Answers

Atton had thought once the old lady was gone he might finally get some answers, but the woman who had rescued him seemed to pick up strays wherever she went. As soon as they entered back into the Peragus tunnels, she picked up an astromec droid.

He didn't trust the things in the best of circumstances, and he definitely didn't want to make friends with one in a place where every droid they'd met had tried to kill them so far. But like everything else that had happened to him since getting out of that cell, Atton had had no say.

He hadn't really meant to say what he had back in the med bay. That did not change the fact that the woman seemed to get into his head though. He knew that all his instincts were telling him to use her to get off this station and slink into the shadows at the first space port, never seeing her or another Jedi again. He'd disappeared like that countless times before, and a change of scenery would do some him good. Plus, no one that stayed around that woman for long would live to write home about it, not the way she ran head first into danger. Not that he had a home.

But that wasn't what he wanted to do. He wanted to go wherever she was going. Follow her lead. Protect her. Wasn't that a laugh, like she needed his protection? The woman was terrifying. But she did. He could see there was something missing in her... something broken. She needed his help.

But these feelings, they weren't natural. They weren't normal. They weren't Atton Rand. She was beautiful, but he wasn't the sort to stick around long, not even for a pretty face.

He thought all these things as they fought their way through more of the malfunctioning mining droids the assassin had set for them. There really should have been some sort of kill switch for those things. In spite of his mistrust for the machine, the little T3 unit was proving quite useful against them in combat, blasting every droid they came across with some sort of electric bolt.

In the docking bay, Atton watched as the woman handed the T3 unit a repair kit, noticing a blaster bolt coming right at her. Two droids had snuck up behind them.

"Look out!" he shouted.

She didn't have a chance to move, turning just in time for an energy bolt to hit her square in the chest as he watched, frozen. But it just bounced off, back in the direction of the oncoming droids. Atton and his new companion raised their weapons and quickly dispatched the pair of attackers.

"What was that?" he said. "Laser bolts just bounce off of you all of the sudden?"

She smiled wide. It was startling the difference it made to her normally blank face.

"They used to," she said. "When you shouted I just thought about it, and it happened. I guess that's coming back to me."

"So you're re-learning the Force or something?"

"Something like that."

Then she frowned, adding, "At an accelerated rate it seems."

"I don't know what that means."

"Because you already learned it all before?" he asked.

"Perhaps."

He thought then to ask, "What did you find in the mining dorms? Were there any more survivors?"

Her face froze. "The assassin droid gassed the dormitories. They were all dead."

He couldn't figure why, but she definitely blamed herself.

He was once again stupidly wishing he could do something for this woman, but this was not the sort of thing Atton Rand was known for. What could he possibly say or do to make something like this seem better? He couldn't, he was completely unequipped. He was surprised when he saw himself reaching slowly for her hand. She watched him warily, like she was expecting an attack. When he had her hand firmly in his, he started to talk.

"You did everything you could," he said. "More than anyone else could. More than I ever would."

He kept talking, the words coming faster now, while looking at her hand in his. It was very small. "Look - this isn't your fault. That damned assassin may have been here for you, but what he did, that's not your fault."

He raised his eyes back up to her face and she was looking back at him. She looked at him with those inscrutable eyes for an impossibly long time.

Then she sighed and said, "I know you're right. Really, I do. It just doesn't feel that way."

He could feel her hand pulling away. It didn't leave his hand feeling cold and empty. The moment was over and he didn't miss it. He told himself he just needed to keep it together long enough to get off this station, then he could put her, and her Jedi hold, behind him.

When they reached the door to the hangar, he groaned. "This door's magnetically sealed. I can't believe this! The ship's right out there and we can't get to it."

The tin can started beeping. His traveling companion bent down to listen.

"What? The console?" she said.

"Huh? What is that piece of junk saying?" He was getting really sick of this.

The woman translated, "He said he can open the door to the hangar, he just needs to access the hangar terminal."

"How can you even understand that noise?"

She answered, "I'll explain some day when we're not being chased by a hundred or more stealth Sith killers."

Somehow he doubted that day would come very soon.

"All right, well, if he can slice the door open from the terminal above, don't let me stop him."

The door opened then and they quickly moved through it. A few busted mining droids later and there she was, the _Ebon Hawk_. The ship wasn't much to look at. In truth, it was a beat up piece of junk, but he'd heard stories about its speed. He couldn't wait to fly it. Unless... he turned to his companion.

"Do you know how to fly this thing?" She seemed to know everything else.

She shook her head. "I was hoping you did."

He couldn't contain his grin as he followed her on board. Unfortunately, there wasn't any time to enjoy their new acquisition, Sith troopers swarmed the outside of the ship. Before he knew it, the woman had taken control of the turret guns and was expertly wiping the floor with them. The handful that made it on board were easily taken care of. Then he raced to the pilot seat before anything else bad could happen.

"All right, let's get out of here," he called out to the back of the ship.

But it was too late, before they could take off, Kreia stumbled aboard. When she and the younger woman entered the cockpit, Atton saw the old woman was missing her hand. Her left hand. A memory flashed across his mind of his companion screaming, falling to the ground in agony, _clutching her left hand_. Right.

He lifted the _Ebon Hawk _off the ground saying, "If they hit us, we're dead! But if they keep missing us, we're dead! Those are great odds."

The T3 unit started in with the beeps and whistles.

"Somebody shut that trash compactor up!" he snapped.

She was right there behind him then, saying, "Isn't there anything you can do? I want to get out of here without the whole system crashing down around us."

"I'm doing all I can," he said. "And that's not enough. What did you do to make these guys so mad? Now either they hit us and destroy us, or they hit an asteroid and make the whole field go nova."

"Just do your best to keep your distance - we'll get out of this yet." She sounded sure of her words, but he sure wasn't.

Kreia spoke for the first time since entering the cockpit, "What of the asteroids? They can be destroyed by us as well as them, can they not?"

Crazy old witch.

"That'll take out the whole field, the colony, and maybe us. We might not even be able to jump to hyperspace in time."

He couldn't believe he had to say that.

"Then we die here, choose now," said the old woman.

The droid made a low sort of whining sound.

"No!" the young woman practically shouted. "Someone might still be alive in the facility."

That decided it for him. "Hold on! This is going to get a little rocky."

He always made bad puns when he was about to die.

Zigging and zagging through the giant chunks of space rock, dodging blasts from the ship that was hot on their tail, he held his breath as he made his way to the edge of the asteroid field. The second he passed the threshold, he pressed the button to launch them into hyperdrive, noticing that the coordinates were locked on Telos. It was too late though, they saw out the side window a massive explosion, knocking out asteroids one by one, including the mining colony. The Sith had destroyed Peragus. And then everything went blue as they jumped into hyperspace.

Once the imminent danger was gone and the ship was autopiloting itself across the galaxy, he got up from his seat and turned around to talk to the two Jedi he'd gotten stuck with. He intended to get some answers now. They were already speaking to each other.

"Well, now that we just killed a planet, maybe one of you can tell me what's going on?" he charged in. "Because between assassin droids, a Sith Lord that looks like he sleeps with vibroblades, and being target practice for a Republic warship, I was better off in my cell."

The younger woman looked like she'd been slapped.

The old hag said, "The Republic warship was the _Harbinger_. It was seized on its way to Telos by the Sith - they sought you, Jedi."

"Why are these Sith looking for me?" she asked.

Kreia replied, "Because you are the last of the Jedi. Once you are dead, then they have won."

His mind was reeling. The last of the Jedi. The Sith really had been busy. He had been right about her though, she was a walking target. He needed to get far away from this one. But still there was the prodding in the back of his head. There was that nagging sensation telling him to protect her.

"But I was exiled from the Jedi Order."

He didn't know they did that.

Kreia said, "Exile or not - the Sith believe you to be a Jedi Knight, and that is all that matters."

He knew that was true. Whatever she was, the Sith would definitely want her.

"But... last of the Jedi? That can't be true."

The mask finally cracked. He could see her eyes filling up with tears, but they didn't fall. It was the first unguarded moment he'd seen her in. He felt like he was intruding and looked away uncomfortably.

The old woman prattled on, "The Jedi Civil War destroyed the Jedi. By the war's end, barely a hundred Jedi remained. Many fell in battle... and many more were seduced by Revan's teachings."

Didn't he know it.

"But what about the Jedi on Dantooine? And Coruscant?"

He noticed her voice faltered on Dantooine and wondered why.

"The Jedi Academy on Dantooine is nothing more than a crater that echoes with the ghosts of dead Jedi." It was hard to tell, what with the cloak and all, but the older woman seemed to be eying her subject very closely while she said that. She went on, "And the temple of Coruscant lies empty."

The old woman's voice was flat.

"But if any survivors live, we need to warn them," said the young woman. "Before, you said the _Harbinger_ was on its way to Telos?"

"Yes... to aid in the recovery effort there," said Kreia. "Many roads lead to Telos - including ours."

Atton interjected then, "Not like we have much choice, the Peragus astrogation charts being what they are."

"There's one thing I still haven't figured out," said the younger woman. One thing? "How did we get to Peragus?"

The T3 started beeping again.

"Be silent!" said Kreia. "We're having a conversation here."

The little utility unit ignored her and continued beeping at the younger woman.

When the beeping stopped, she turned back to him and the old woman. "He says he repaired the ship and got us to Peragus."

"Repaired the ship, my eye," Atton scoffed. "Next thing you know, it's going to claim credit for saving our skins."

There was another beep from the droid before the young woman said, "We got away from the Sith - now how do we stop them?"

He had been right about her. Danger.

Kreia said, "That... is not an easy question to answer. This threat is greater than you know."

"So what do you think we should do?" she asked.

He didn't like her deferring to Kreia and spoke up, "Look - enough with the 'we' already."

Ignoring him, Kreia answered the young woman, "We cannot hope to triumph against them alone. To stop them, you will need weapons, allies, and... a teacher."

He could just guess who the old woman had in mind for that last one.

"In the end," the old witch went on, "I fear it will not be enough."

Kreia moved closer to the younger woman and said, "You fought in the Mandalorian Wars, and it cost you everything. Are you willing to sacrifice as much again?"

The woman responded, "I have nothing to lose now - how bad could it be?" but the lightness was forced.

"Pah," said the old woman. "Like so many Jedi, you hear, but you do not listen. You have much to learn."

As she started to stalk off, Atton couldn't keep from calling after her, "Hey don't stop your long boring rants on my account. I was just getting sleepy-eyed."

Then he turned to his lone companion left in the room. "Look, uh, not like I care or anything, but you might want to go check on our passenger - especially with that hand of hers."

"You're right, she may need my help - can you handle things up here?" She was looking up at him expectantly.

"We're on autopilot until we hit Telos. Until then, a droid could fly this thing," he sounded a little cockier than he felt just then.

She grinned at him. "Maybe I should let T3 take over."

Smirking back, he said, "The last Jedi in the galaxy, I get the comedian who runs around in her underwear."

"I thought you liked the underwear," she called back at him as she was scurrying down the hall.

He watched as she headed out of sight in the direction of the main hold of the ship, thinking about all the things he had just learned about her. Now that he had some answers, he just had more questions.


	6. Damage

Feeling drained after her long talk with Kreia in the port dorm, she decided to explore her new ship. She wandered from port to starboard, slowly exploring every nook and cranny. It really was a beautiful piece of machinery, she could almost feel at home here.

There was a broken assassin droid, like the one they had fought back on the mining colony in the storage compartment. But this one didn't seem to have the parts needed to function, so she decided it should be safe enough for the time being. It seemed a bit more rusted than the one she had met on Peragus. She left it alone, re-locking the storage compartment behind her.

She ran into her new little astromec friend, T3, outside of the engine room.

"You look like you've suffered a lot of damage over the years."

He beeped at her and she snickered.

"Fair enough, so have I. But how much damage are we talking?"

His frame was dented a smidge, but she had that hammered out in no time. The bigger problem was lost programs in his behavior core. She popped open his casing and pulled out her micropoint. What she found made little sense, the wiring was all wrong.

Closing him back up she said, "Who did this to you?"

He chirped, but the blocks she had found prevented him from answering. How he had ended up on this ship in the first place? She realized she had very little knowledge of the resources at her disposal. She must work to correct that.

She stopped herself from going back to the workbench to see about upgrading her vibroblade again. She was stalling. It was time to go talk to Atton, and Atton would have questions. How could he not? What she would say? Steeling herself, she headed towards the cockpit.

When she walked up behind him he said, "How's our passenger? She still aging?"

"Cryptic as always."

"What a surprise," said Atton. "Just so you Jedi know, the whole 'cryptic routine' isn't mysterious, it's just irritating. If you really can see the future, you should be at the pazaak table."

"We definitely can't see the future, or I would be better at pazaak." She hated that game.

Knowing Kreia wasn't the only Jedi he was referring to, she plopped down in the co-pilot seat.

"I don't think Kreia is a Jedi."

"Then she must be royalty, because she's got to be Queen of the Galaxy to bark out orders like that," he said. "Or maybe she's senile."

He went on, "I mean, how old do you think she is? She may have been good looking once, but it takes some hard living to make creases like that."

She almost laughed. "Good looking?"

Atton leered at her. "I mean, she probably never looked like you, but hey, I just got out of prison."

She changed the subject. "Are we still on course for Telos?"

That was a foolish thing to say. Of course she knew the answer. There was nowhere else they _could_ go.

"Like we have a choice?" he pointed out. "And if you thought Peragus was dead, then Telos is a dying world they're trying to breathe life back into."

She scanned her memory and came up blank. "What happened to Telos?"

"First place Revan hit when the Sith attacked the Republic."

"Oh." Of course.

She moved to get up, to head to the starboard dorm for some rest.

"So... what happened?"

The question stopped her in her tracks.

"To what?" she asked.

"Don't give me that. There were plenty of times back on Peragus where a lightsaber would have been helpful. So - where's yours?"

This time she laughed. Of all the things she'd been expecting him to say, this had not been one of them.

"Exiles aren't allowed to keep their lightsabers."

"Fair enough," said Atton.

She wasn't sure what compelled her to do this, maybe it was because he hadn't asked; but she opened her mouth again and was shocked by the words spilling out of her.

"I was a Padawan when the Mandalorian's started their conquest. I knew from the beginning the Jedi were the only ones who stood a chance at stopping them."

"The Jedi fought a bit in the early days of the war, I don't know if you knew that. One of my Masters was involved in several of the earlier skirmishes. I always thought he would be the one save the Republic..."

That hurt. She still did not understand.

"But then the Jedi pulled out, and he would not be a part of it anymore. I was so angry with him. And then as system after system were being overtaken by the Mandalorian's, the council still refused to act. It wasn't right!"

She noticed she speaking louder than she had intended.

Lowering her voice, she said, "Then Revan and Malek started quietly recruiting. Something had to be done, they said, and they were right. And Revan... Revan was like a force of nature. You couldn't turn against her. You couldn't deny her. I've never known anyone else like her. Malek... well, Malek was always kind of a jackass. But Revan was a leader."

"So when they left, I left. I joined up, served, fought, killed, and then when it was all over, when we'd 'won', I went back to the Jedi Council, to face judgment for all that I'd done. They exiled me and cut me off from the Force."

"I had foolishly believed someone on the Council would speak on my behalf. That did not happen," she said.

Looking down at Atton, she realized she hadn't let him get a word in since she'd started her long personal history.

"I just thought you deserved to know."

There was a long pause.

He finally said, "Ya, well, you don't think your old buddies, Revan and Malek, will be dropping in for a little Jedi reunion, do you?"

"Probably not, since one's dead and no one has seen the other in years."

"Exactly," said Atton. "None of that matters anymore."

Atton went back to fiddling with the controls and she took that as a sign it was time to stop sharing and headed back out down the corridor. She didn't know what she had been expecting from him in telling him all of this, but she had certainly expected something. His lack of reaction was troubling.

She spent the remainder of the flight laying listlessly in the starboard dorm, thinking about everything that had happened.

The Jedi were all but gone. She didn't even want to think about who might be left, because that led to wondering who was gone. And Dantooine... Dantooine destroyed? She had been gone too long. They had sent her away, but she should have come back before now. Made them see reason. Something. She could have helped. She _should_ have helped.

The loss of her childhood home, losing possibly everyone she knew and loved, she had gone through it once before, when she had been exiled. But at least when she had been banished to the Outer Rim, they had been safe. She had made sure of that. It had cost her everything, but she had protected those she loved. Thinking about all she had left behind... to think that all of that could be gone, it was a pain raw and ragged in her chest. It hurt like the whole of Dantooine was imploding inside of her.

She did start to cry then. Those tears she had been holding in for hours fell freely now, she broke into loud sobs. She cried until she fell asleep in her bunk and when she slept, she dreamed of the Enclave.


	7. Observation

Kreia saw everything that went on around her. Through observation, through the Force, through... other methods, nothing escaped her attention beneath that cowl. Of course, one did not need eyes to see what was going on here.

They had been in Telos for two days now, locked in a one room apartment on Citadel Station, the superstructure that surrounded the entire planet, under house arrest by order of the Telos Security Force. Those insufferable TSF fools thought they were the ones responsible for what had happened on Peragus, but what was happening inside the small apartment was far more insidious. Kreia saw it all as she meditated.

"All I'm saying is," the fool, Atton, was speaking to the Exile as they played a card game, "a Sith assassin managed to sneak through TFS headquarters to get at you, maybe you should think about a little caution."

"I know, Atton," said the Exile, "and thank you for trying to step in to defend me back there, but do you really think they'll stop?"

No, Kreia thought. They will always hunt her.

He continued on, "Just don't go running off alone if we ever get out of this apartment."

The fool boy had feelings for the Exile, that much was obvious. Not that it would do him much good, but it might be possible to leverage that against him if that was needed. She'd wait until the moment was right; fool he may be, but he was a slippery one. His emotions may be plain, but his thoughts were closely guarded.

The Exile smiled at the fool over her cards and said, "Not ready to be rid of us yet? I figured you'd jump ship as soon as you could."

"If you want to face the Exchange on your own, be my guest," he said.

No, she needs you for a while longer. Kreia was certain of that, but she disliked the smile the Exile had given him just the same. That would not do, she thought with exasperation. Surely the woman could see him for the brainless tool that he was.

The pain from her missing hand was echoing in the background as it always was now, she pushed it away with her meditation. She knew that it would not matter; she could still do what needed to be done. It would all be worth it in the end.

The communication console started buzzing, and a TSF agent informed the Exile that an Ithorian was there to speak with them. She said she would see him and the door to the apartment slid opened.

The Ithorian entered the room, saying, "Thank you for seeing me. I am Moza, and I have come to see you on behalf of Chodo Habat."

The younger woman said, "What does Chodo Habat want with me?"

"Are you familiar with the restoration project on Telos?" asked the alien.

"No," said the Exile, "has it had any success?"

Kreia did not need to listen to that; it was a fool's errand to try to restore the ruined planet of Telos. For whatever reason, Revan had seen fit to make this panet unusable, no matter what those Ithorians or the Republic that wasted their credits on it thought, and that was how it would remain.

"Some," said the alien. "Recently, however, we have run into contention with the corporation known as 'Czerka'. Perhaps you have heard of our recent troubles?"

"No, how could I help?" asked the young woman.

A waste of time.

"Chodo Habat is a powerful priest, our spiritual leader. He sensed something upon your arrival... a disturbance, an echo in the Force."

The Ithorian wasn't done, "Chodo felt you might be able to aid us. He bid me tell you that if you could help heal Telos, it may be possible for him to heal you."

Kreia's attention snapped to the Ithorian, though she was careful not to show a reaction.

"Heal me?" There was hope in the Exile's voice.

This was outside of her plans.

The Ithorian said, "I am unclear as to what Chodo meant by this. He says the echo he felt upon your arrival suggests that you yourself are damaged. He can feel the pain through the Force."

Kreia said pointedly, "Perhaps Chodo Habat should turn his eyes to his own people, if they truly suffer so."

"Forgive me. I am unclear as to Chodo's message, and I may have related it incorrectly," he added hastily.

He gave the Exile directions to find the Ithorian compound and then hurried out of the room.

Kreia resumed her meditative stance and said, "Now, perhaps we will be able to rest uninterrupted."

The Exile did not join her on the floor. She sat across from the fool boy again on one of the three beds.

After a moment, he pulled out a deck of cards and began to shuffle them in his hands.

He said, "So... what do you think about what that Ithorian guy said?"

The Exile shrugged. "I'm trying not to get my hopes up," she said. "An Ithorian priest wants to heal me? He could be crazy."

"Or he could he right!" said Atton, a feverish edge to his voice.

It had happened to him fast, in spite of all his defenses. Kreia should not have been surprised, it had happened to her as well, she who should know better than anyone. But they were both tied to the Exile now, drawn into a black hole that there was no way of escaping. Not that she wanted to. She could control events from here.

"I'm sorry I got you locked up again," said the Exile. "And shot at."

He shrugged and said, "Ya, well, it wasn't like I had anything better to do. I'd probably still be locked on Peragus if it wasn't for you. Or blown up."

There was a brief silence before he said, "Hey, what's your name?"

The younger woman said, "Can't you just call me the exile like Kreia does?"

The fool leaned over, closing the gap between their beds and said, "Not a chance, sweetheart."

The communication console buzzed again, causing them both to jump.

The Exile was less amenable to the Czerka Corporation. Unfortunately, she did not respond well to manipulation. The young woman refused to even visit their offices and Kreia knew they would be helping the Ithorians. Trying to guide this woman was like trying to tame a tidal wave.

"Want to play another round?" he asked.

"I'm tired of that stupid game," said the Exile. "You always win anyways."

"Then we should get back to bed," said the boy. "Whenever they decide to release us, we should get going immediately."

The Exile nodded and stretched out across one of the beds, her breath quickly evening out as she entered the world of dreams. The boy lay across from her on another bed, but he did not fall immediately to sleep. Kreia could tell as he lay there in silence, he was watching the Exile, but eventually his breathing quieted too.

A few hours later, Atton had woken up and he began making his way over to Kreia. She stood.

He said, "Explain something to be."

She replied, irritated, "I do not have the years required - nor the desire to indulge you."

He kept talking. "If she served in the war... well, Jedi are supposed to be tough. Capable. And don't get me wrong, she is, but..."

It was like talking to a child. She spoke as if she was.

"Take the greatest Jedi Knight, strip away the Force, and what remains? They rely on it, depend on it, more than they know," she said.

Kreia knew.

She went on, "Watch as one tries to hold a blaster, as they try to hold a lightsaber, and you will see nothing more than a woman - or a man. A child."

The fool boy looked back at the sleeping woman on the bed. "But to lose so much..." he said, "I guess I didn't realize how much they relied on it."

"Do not be surprised," said Kreia. "In many ways, even you are more capable than a Jedi. You could survive where they could not simply because you do not hear the Force as they do. It is irony of a sort - and it is why I tolerate your presence now."

He was still watching the sleeping form. "Such a loss of ability - for a Jedi, it seems so extreme."

She harrumphed and said abruptly, "We do her a disservice by not speaking of this while she is present."

The conversation was ended and a short while later the TSF fools finally released them. The Exile was immediately ready to explore the station; her curiosity could lead to trouble. Kreia did not accompany the Exile, but she saw it all, through the bond, from the apartment where she meditated. The woman seemed to take an interest in everything around her, speaking to everyone she passed, visiting all of the local places of interest. If only she ever sought to use this to her advantage! She helped everyone she met, but she seldom asked for anything in return.

The woman defended idiots who didn't know how to protect themselves from bar fights, she ran an absurd amount of errands for those ridiculous Ithorians, and showed far too much patience to the TSF fools who lost her ship. And what was gained?

It did actually get them off of Citadel Station, eventually.


	8. A Big Win

Atton really didn't know what had come over him back in the holding cells of TSF Station. When that assassin had been threatening her, he had found he couldn't keep his mouth shut. He knew he had goaded that man into a fight in order to keep the man's attention off of her.

When the force fields were released and they were free, he had raced to her defense; he hadn't held back on that guy at all. Killing people hand to hand like that had never been his thing, it was too messy, but he hadn't thought twice.

And that assassin had been from the Exchange, which was only the most powerful crime syndicate in the galaxy. Was there anybody that wasn't after her? They should have gone to Nar Shaddaa, he thought, not for the first time. It would have been easier to hide her there.

Being locked in that room with her for two days... that had been messy too. Too many thoughts hovering in the dark recesses of his mind. Feelings. Desires. He wasn't good at controlling those things, not anymore. And always with that old hag watching silently from the corner of the room; he couldn't see her face, but he could _feel_ her stare.

In that time, he'd learned their leader cried in her sleep. He couldn't fix what was wrong with her; he really didn't even know what was wrong with her. He wouldn't know where to start. He had talked to the old woman about it, but it hadn't made him feel any better. So all he could do was keep trying to protect her.

With every good deed she accomplished on Citadel Station, he became more certain that he could never have her. Everything she had told him back on the _Ebon Hawk_, that had been huge. He knew that. And he could do nothing in return. He could not tell her where he'd been, what he'd been doing for the last ten years, the ones she had spent in exile. She would hate him.

Murderer. The word echoed loudly in his head. Atton remembered clearly the look on her face when confronting the assassin droid.

He remembered her bitter words, "Whatever you say, murder is murder."

She would hate him.

He knew she wondered why he hadn't brought up his past. She was curious. She was curious about everything. She never stopped with the questions, but she left his past alone. He liked that just fine, but he couldn't help but wonder why. Was there more to her story than she had said? He still didn't even know what to call her. He'd tried to ask her name a few times now, but she'd always managed to slither out of the conversation. Not that he could blame her; he may be Atton now, but that wasn't always the case.

He had followed her around Citadel Station for the last day and a half, watching her help people and try to bolster the Telos restoration project. There wasn't a lot else to be done, the _Ebon Hawk _was missing, stolen in TSF lockdown. The old witch had opted to spend the time meditating back in the apartment Telos Security had so graciously offered to let them remain in for their stay on the station, after releasing them from house arrest.

Now, they were in a bar trying to get information on how to get into the Bumani Exchange Corp, the front for the local Exchange here on Telos. The Ithorian's were being bullied out of the planet restoration business and his new friend was determined to help, no matter the danger it put her in. She was convinced she could get the Exchange to back off, in spite of the Jedi bounty.

Walking up to the first person they saw in the bar, she said, "I wanted to ask you some questions..."

Smooth, he thought. The woman was as subtle as a steamroller.

"Oh, I'm sorry - I'm only here to relax and play. So, you game for a game?" said the tavern patron.

She thanked the woman for the offer and politely declined, then moved on dejectedly, but he stayed behind.

He walked up to the pazaak player and said, "I wouldn't mind a quick game."

The woman pulled out her deck and he did the same. From here, he could watch as his companion moved around the room. They both shuffled their cards and drew from their decks.

"Anything going on on the Station?" he asked.

She played a side card. His opponent wasn't bad to look at. He took a second to glance down at her chest, it would be rude _not_ to.

"Same as always since the war," she said. "Work to be had, if you're willing to deal with those Czerka types... or the Exchange."

"So what's the word on the Jedi bounty I heard about?" He tried to be as casual as possible.

She said, "It's all people have been talking about for the last few days."

He could guess why. He couldn't keep from glancing towards his companion. She was talking to a Twi'lek man near the stage. He wondered what she was up to, but he played another card.

"Who's looking?" He knew he was pressing it now, but he needed to know who was after her.

The woman looked up from her cards and eyed him suspiciously for a moment. Then she pointed her head in the direction of a man at the bar.

She said quietly, "Benok's not shut up about it. He was pounding 'em back last night going on about how he was gonna catch himself a Jedi and be set for life."

He played a side card and said, "And who's he?"

This time she didn't look up from her cards, she kept playing and said, "He's Slusk's right hand. Slusk is head of the Exchange around here."

The woman played another card and continued, "Luxa, the Zeltron harlot on the other side of the bar, she works for him too. Don't know how happy she is though."

She laid down her last side card, looked him right in the eye and said, "She might like a game."

He had won, and won big. Collecting his credits, he rose to go tell his companion what he'd learned, but before he could leave, his pazaak partner stopped him.

"Good luck with your pretty friend. You'll have a helluva time keeping her away from Slusk."

He tucked his deck in his jacket pocket and said, "He'll have a hell of a time trying to take her away from me."

He turned around and ran right into the pretty ex-Jedi in question.

She said, "I just won a Twi'lek in a pazaak game."

He blinked in surprise. She was terrible at pazaak.

She said, "Hurry, we have to go the apartment district; I think she and her boyfriend have some unfinished business."

Then she was marching out of the bar with a Twi'lek dancer in tow and he had no choice but to follow. When they arrived at the apartment in question, she sliced the security lock open and walked right in.

The Twi'lek man in the apartment said, "Ramana! This can't be true. I thought I had lost you for sure."

The Twi'lek dancer, Ramana, replied icily, "Don't sound so pleased, Harra. It's not as though you had anything to do with getting me free."

The man's face fell. "Aren't you the least bit happy to see me?"

Ramana said, "I couldn't care less. If she hadn't asked me to come, I would have been on the first shuttle out of here."

He tuned out after that, listening to some guy get yelled at by a woman wasn't his idea of fun, even if that guy really had it coming. The next thing he knew, his companion was handing the Twi'lek woman the credits he had just won and hugging her goodbye.

"Thank you," said Ramana. "You have given me a new life, and that I am thankful for."

"Don't let anyone ever take it away from you again," said his friend.

Harra called after her, "No, Ramana! Don't leave! Please!"

She was gone.

As they left the apartment he said, "Why did you bring her back here? She obviously never wanted to see that guy again."

"He bet her into slavery on a pazaak game!" she said emphatically. "He deserved what he got in there. And she needed to give it to him. She may not realize it now, but she needed one more chance to see him again, to say what needed to be said..."

As she trailed off, he wondered if she was still talking about the Twi'leks.

She then exclaimed, "She was dancing on a bar!"

That reminded him. He told her he thought he'd found a way into the Exchange headquarters. As soon as she'd heard his news, she demanded they return to the bar at once to speak to Luxa, 'the Zeltron harlot'.

The pink skinned, red headed woman in skin tight leathers was not hard to pick out in the crowd by the bar. His companion marched up to Luxa, known affiliate of the Exchange. He followed behind, keeping his distance.

The Zeltron woman drawled, "Hello there, beautiful."

"Come here often?" said his friend.

The Zeltron said, "I handle vice - you know, spice, gambling, the good things in life - for the local Exchange boss, Loppak Slusk."

"You're Exchange?" his traveling companion said innocently.

He sighed. She was a terrible pazaak player.

The pink woman said, "Don't worry, I won't make a move on you. That squid and I don't see eye to eye on a lot of things, you being one of them."

He entered the conversation then, "Just what do you mean by that?"

"Look- are you really a Jedi?" Luxa asked

"Not anymore," she replied.

Luxa said, "Exactly. This Exchange bounty has nothing to do with you - but Slusk, my boss, won't listen. Still, you seem a very capable sort. Tell me, are you?"

Oh, she was. They made their way to the Bumani Exchange Corp. All they had to do was tell the guard at the door that Luxa sent them and they were let right in the front door. A receptionist assumed they were Slusk's next appointment and sent them on back to his offices.

The layout of the Exchange headquarters was the same as the Ithorian compound. Most space stations used modular construction, so that was nothing unexpected, but it made it easy for them to navigate their way to the heart of Lusk's HQ.

They made their way to an inner entry room, filled with Lusk's men, including Benok from the bar, and Loppak Slusk.

The Exchange boss himself started to speak. "You've got a lot of nerve coming here, Jedi, with the bounty we've got on your kind. What do you want?"

"I'm not a Jedi," said his companion forcefully.

"Good," replied the Quarren, "it'll be easier to kill you. You're marked, human. Whether you're actually a Jedi or not means nothing to me."

"I'm here on behalf of Chodo Habat," she said.

"You – what?" Slusk had obviously not been expecting that. "I gave very specific instructions regarding that hammerhead and any of his cronies. Who let this idiot in?"

He began barking out orders to his men. "Matu, bring me whoever's working the door. Nahata, tell Chodo if he sends anyone else, we'll come after him. And Benok…"

He finished with, "Dust this foolish Jedi," and left the room out an exit Atton assumed must lead to his private office.

Atton did not like the way Benok looked at his ex-Jedi when he said, "With pleasure."

Moving in front of her, Atton turned his body quickly to shoot the door controls so none of them could leave for backup.

Three Rodians, some exchange thug and Benok were all who were left. He targeted Benok with his blaster and fired. His ex-Jedi moved out from behind him and towards the Rodians. Two of them were blasting her with laser bolts but most just bounced back. Atton tried not to pay too much attention to what she was doing while Benok had his blaster aimed at him, but he couldn't help but watch her enter into the center of the three Rodians, spinning around with her vibroblade raised, and slicing them all at once.

But he had to turn his focus back to Benok and that fancy blaster in his hand. Flipping on an energy field, Atton moved in close. The weapons they had found on Peragus were nowhere near as nice as the one in Benok's hand, but few were as good in such close quarters as Atton Rand. He launched a powerful volley from both blasters, hitting Lusk's right hand man squarely in the chest.

The shield deflected most of Benok's shots, keeping Atton on the winning side. He moved back again and blasted one last sniper shot and saw the man fall. That was one bounty hunter who was not going to collect on the last Jedi.

He turned to look for her and saw her standing in the center of three dead Rodians and one human. She was wiping her blade off on one of the Rodian's jumpsuits. He bent to pick up Benok's blaster, tucking it into a hidden holster in his jacket. He then went over to her.

There was a tear in the fabric of her armor on her lower torso, exposing skin and a nasty blaster burn.

"You've been hit," he said. He'd almost thought she was immune to the things.

She shrugged it off. "It's not too bad. Chodo can probably fix it."

"If he can't, we'll have to find a doctor somewhere," Atton said. "A wound like that could easily get infected."

She shrugged again.

After they had killed all his men, the Quarren was more than happy to work with them. No longer so keen on collecting the Jedi bounty, she was able to convince Slusk to leave the restoration project and the Ithorians alone if she would just leave. Atton would have liked to take out that squid head himself, but he let her have her way on this one.

They headed back to tell the Ithorians the news.


	9. Crash Course

"Ah, you have returned. I and all my herd thank you for what you have done for us."

The Ithorian healer was smiling at them. At least, Atton thought that he was. It was hard to tell with aliens sometimes.

"I'm just glad I could help," said his ex-Jedi companion.

"I have heard that the ship you arrived on is missing, hidden somewhere on Telos. I know who could help you find it," said Chodo Habat. "When Citadel Station was developing the shield system it uses to protect the Restoration Zones, they worked with a Zabrak ex-military engineer named Bao-Dur."

His friend appeared surprised by this information.

"Bao-Dur?" she said. "Where is he?"

Chodo said, "Bao-Dur should be on Telos' surface. I believe he is at one of the currently Czerka-held Restoration Zones, RZ-0031"

"How do I get to him?" she asked.

"I will allow you to use one of our orbital shuttles. It has no hyperdrive, but will allow you to descend to the planet's surface and make a return trip to Citadel Station," said the Ithorian. "Before you leave us, there is one last thing. When you agreed to help us, I promised that I would try to heal your connection to the Force."

He went on, "When you stood before me, you opened my eyes to a hurt almost as great as the planet's. Your wound... I can feel the immensity of your loss."

Hurt as great as Telos? What could have possibly happened to the woman, Atton wondered.

"Though we describe the restoration as a process, we are, in truth, opening Telos to the Force," said the healer. "Thus, I believe I can help you. That perhaps through your work with the planet and my guidance, I might restore some part of the Force to you."

His friend let out a sudden gasp. Though he had seen nothing happen, she was wearing a huge smile.

"Thank you, Chodo," she said, hugging the healer.

"It is not much, but I feel I have been somewhat successful. Go with our thanks."

He noticed whatever the Ithorian had done to her had healed the wound on her side. She left the compound with such a look of serenity he couldn't help but say something.

"So, do you feel any different?" he asked her.

She looked at him confused for a second before saying, "Oh, you mean the Force?"

Atton snickered and nodded.

She said, "I do. It's closer than it was before. Less like an echo and more like a real sound, if that makes any sense."

It didn't, but he said, "You seem pretty calm - it's almost streaming off of you."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

He thought about how best to word it.

"On Peragus, you seemed... well, less at peace with yourself. It's hard to explain."

She smiled at him and said, "I really haven't felt this good in a long time."

"Well, it's good to see. You're a nice counterbalance to that old witch."

She chortled, saying, "Speaking of, we have to stop by the apartment and pick her up."

"Do we have to?" he practically whined.

"Yes," she said. "We have to head planetside to look for our ship and we might need her help there."

"I still say that stupid T3 unit stole our ship!" he said. "It's probably joyriding through the system right now, laughing at us... laughing at me."

Someone was laughing at him right now, but it wasn't the droid. He grumbled.

"So...who's Bao-Dur?" he asked her.

Her face went blank, as it always did when she closed up again. He'd known he was pressing his luck.

"Someone I never thought I'd see again," she replied stiffly and did not say another word until they made it back to Kreia.

The shuttle ride to Telos' surface could have been smoother; they were shot down short of their destination. Atton didn't remember being dragged from the busted orbital craft, but he slowly came to on Telos soil, in time to overhear the remainder of a conversation.

"I'll humor you, General. I was one of the Iridonian mechanic corps that was at Malachor. Bao-Dur?" a soft spoken male voice was saying. "I can see how you'd forget me, being that I was the only one."

"I don't want to talk about the war." He knew that voice, his ex-Jedi.

A General at Malachor? Was she really? He stayed still on the ground in order to listen in.

"I'll agree to that. The less said the better." The unfamiliar voice of the engineer was speaking again. "We all went through some tough times after Malachor, and maybe we all did a little forgetting."

Wasn't that the truth, thought Atton.

"How are the others?" she asked.

Atton was surprised to hear the worry in her voice.

"They'll be fine. The pilot's more or less unharmed and the old lady, well, she's tougher than she looks."

He took that as his cue to get up.

"Well," he said. "This is familiar. Feels like my last time on Telos."

"Crashed a shuttle that time too?" He could see now the voice of the newcomer belonged to a Zabrak.

"No, pazaak," said Atton.

So this guy knew his ex-Jedi before she was an ex? He took a minute to study the engineer. Like most Near-Humans, his skin was an unusual color, gray in this instance. He had a ring of horns around his head and lines forming a maze across his face. There was a small remote droid buzzing around him. Most noticeable though, was his mechanical arm, part crackling blue energy and part metalwork. He wondered how effective it was.

"Who shot us down?" asked his always on task companion.

"Beats me," said Bao-Dur. "No one's supposed to be here but a Czerka research team."

She helped Kreia to her feet and inspected the crashed orbital shuttle.

"I guess we won't be able to return that to Chodo," she said unhappily. Sighing, she added, "let's go, we need to find our ship."

The engineer said, "I can help you find it - I have access to the shield network."

And just like that, the group of three became four. The local wildlife was just as inhospitable as the planet's surface. The place was crawling with cannoks, ugly and aggressive little jerks.

"I don't understand," said their leader. "I've been to Telos before and there weren't any cannoks."

Bao-Dur said, "The Ithorians imported them from Dxun as part of the restoration efforts. They do seem to have taken over, though."

Atton rolled his eyes. Stupid Ithorians.

As if that wasn't enough, the party then had to fight their way through several squads of Czerka hired mercenaries. It was tiring work, but they finally managed to reach the landing pad of an old military base that was now under Czerka control.

"At least we know who shot us down," said his leader, like that was any consolation.

When they found the console they were looking for, Bao-Dur tapped into the shield network. They learned power was being drawn to generate a force field somewhere in Telos' polar region. If the _Ebon Hawk _was on the planet, it had to be there. Hoping there was still a shuttle in the military facility, they entered the underground bunker.

Not far into the base, they encountered a force shield blocking their path.

Bao-Dur said, "This arm of mine isn't just for show, General. Stand back."

He then jammed his mechanical arm straight through the shield, shorting it out.

"After you," he said, ushering them all past.

Atton whistled appreciatively. That was a neat trick. It wasn't long before they found another orbital shuttle, but it wasn't going to do them much good without ignition codes, so they kept going.

While their fearless leader sliced a security console, Bao-Dur asked him, "How do you know the General?"

"We met on the Peragus mining facility," he said, "just before it blew up."

Bao-Dur chuckled softly and said, "I see the General hasn't changed much."

Then she was back before Atton could ask him what he had meant by that. They ran into another problem at the hangar controls. They weren't working, which meant they wouldn't be flying out of there until they were fixed. Another hurdle to jump before they could start searching for the _Ebon Hawk_.

A little further in, they ran into the only surviving member of the original Czerka salvage team. Of course, his ex-Jedi had invited him to follow along for protection until they could lead him to safety.

Once they had fought their way through the facility, they found the reactor controls, and turned the power to the base back on and headed back towards the hangar, salvager and all. On the way back, they found ignition codes stored away and as they arrived back in the hangar bay, they were joking around and celebrating their good fortune.

"And then in runs this woman," he was saying, "wearing nothing but some underwear and running shoes. Oh yeah, and she's carrying that giant sword."

Bao-Dur started chuckling just before they noticed the surprise waiting for them when they got there. The largest tank droid Atton had ever seen came crashing its way towards them. The Czerka researcher screamed and ran for the exit.

Atton had already raised his blaster and taken aim and could see the mechanical monster was pulsating with some unseen Force power his leader was unleashing on it. Bao-Dur went running headfirst at it with a vibrosword even larger than the one he was used to seeing his ex-Jedi companion using.

Then the giant tank released a stream of flame and he saw her fall. He couldn't go to her, not while the fight was still going on, but there was a searing pain burning in his chest making it damn near impossible to concentrate. After what felt like an eternity of blaster bolts and flame volleys, the machine was broken down and he ran to her limp body on the ground. Kreia was already there, with her head on their leader's chest. He swallowed.

"Is she... alright?" He couldn't bring himself to ask what he really wanted to.

"She's still in there," the old woman said. "But just barely."

He noticed the old witch was looking pale herself and he grew even more concerned.

"Heal her!" he practically shouted. "I mean, you can help her, can't you?"

"If you would give me some space," Kreia said dryly, "I could."

He backed off, but watched intently.

Kreia put her hands on the woman's shoulders. He didn't see anything unusual happen, but the hairs on his arms stood up and then their leader started to open her eyes. She blinked a few times, and then started to push herself up.

Atton bent down again and said, "Stop. Let me help."

She looked at him and said, "I'm really fine now."

He mostly believed it, but that didn't stop him from helping her up and practically carrying her to the control room. He sat her down in a chair near the panel. She started to get up again and he pushed her back down.

"Rest," he said. "Just a few minutes, that's all I ask. Then you're free to throw us all back into the face of danger."

She grimaced, but stayed seated. He tried to keep her that way by distracting her.

"You know," he said slyly. "I think that armor of yours slows your response time. Maybe you should go back to battling in your underwear."

Smirking, she retorted, "But then _your_ response time would be slowed."

She had a point. Three minutes later, he counted; she was opening the hangar bay doors.

Smiling sweetly at him this time, she said, "I can rest in the shuttle. Let's go."

They flew low over the green grassy hills of Telos towards the cold polar ice cap. As per usual, their borrowed orbital vessel was shot down as soon as they entered Telos' polar region. Atton was beginning to notice a trend of ships crashing when this woman was aboard. Bao-Dur was rendered unconscious in the crash and so it was just three who were left to face down the squad of assassin droids exactly like the one they had encountered back on Peragus.

Making short work of them, they quickly tried to find shelter from the snow and help for their injured engineer. It wasn't far before they found the frozen underground bunker they were searching for. Following where the corridors led them, they made their way to a great round room filled with several identical beautiful women in white. One approached his companion, who agreed to a peaceful meeting with their leader and Atton moved to follow. Two women came between them as she was led off and he dropped low into a familiar stance, ready to push his way through.

Kreia stopped him, "Do as they say... I sense she will come to no harm."

"Are you crazy?" he said, but found himself being led away in spite of his reticence.

He and Kreia were taken to force containment cells not unlike the one he had been locked in on Peragus... or Citadel Station for that matter.

"Why is it that everywhere we go I end up in a cell? What is this place?"

"It is a training ground for Jedi... But where are all the students? Curious," said Kreia from her cell, then she seemed to sense of something. "Oh Atris... you have been clever."

"Atris?" he asked.

"It's none of your concern," said the witch.

Atton said, "Well, the sooner we're out of here, the better. Two crazy Jedi is enough for me."

Kreia peered at him intently. "And what is it about this place that causes you fear?"

And then he felt her in his head. Not like their leader, who was always there, quietly in the back of his mind, but digging, probing, ripping his secrets from it.

"What... What are you doing?" he yelled. "Get out of my head!"

He tried blocking her out.

... switch the face of the +1/-1 card, the totals are nine-ten. Switch the face of the +2/-2 card, the total is eight-eleven. Switch...

It wasn't working. He even tried thinking about _her_. It was no use.

"Ah, with the fear... is mingled guilt... it squirms in you like a worm," she said. "And the why... ah, and there is the heart."

The old witch knew. She knew. What was he going to do now?

"You surprise me - I could not feel it before... your feelings are a powerful shield indeed. Do not worry, 'Atton', if she is a Jedi, she will forgive. And if she is not, she will not care."

Atton didn't believe that.

"You can't tell her," he pleaded. "Please - I'm asking you. I don't want her to..."

"...think less of you?" said Kreia. "I hardly think that's possible. And there is a price for such things."

"What price?" His voice was hard.

"You are a crude thing, murderer, but you have your uses," she said. "You know how important this woman we travel with is - even one such as you can feel it. You will serve her... until I release you."

"And if I refuse?" he said, knowing he wouldn't.

"You will not," she said, then added, "If you do, then my silence will be broken. And then, Atton, you will be broken."

He growled, "I don't know how you became such a manipulative witch, but why a vicious old scow like yourself would bother with me is a bigger mystery."

"You are a slippery one, your thoughts difficult for even one such as I to read," said Kreia. "I suspect the self-loathing that squirms within you gives you a curious strength."

"I feel you have crossed our path for a reason..." She went on. "If so, your potential is not yet spent."

"Fine," Atton said. "I'll be your pawn. But I still think you've got the wrong man."

"Perhaps," she replied. "But someone has to fly the ship. Our path brought us here for a reason... and now I know why. The past is here, and it must be dealt with before the future can be set in motion."

He wondered what she meant by that.

"More Jedi speak... Care to explain?"

"No," she said. "I have wasted enough time with you. Sleep, murderer - and be silent. I need no distractions."

And then he fell to the floor of his cell, asleep.


	10. Lightsaber

"Atris would be the first Jedi I run into..." she muttered angrily as she stalked down the narrow walkway.

That was unkind. She should be happy Atris was alright, no matter how irritating the woman could be. And truly, it was good to see her alive, there had been a time when they had been friends of a sort. A long, long time ago now it seemed.

Atris herself didn't seem keen on rekindling what was lost when she had left for the Mandalorian Wars. Atris had never forgiven her for that, she knew. She remembered well how Atris had treated her at the trial, she would never understand. Atris had been on the Jedi Council that had exiled her. In fact, she'd been one of the most vocal. Atris had wanted her imprisoned, or worse.

And the woman had her lightsaber. That really galled. Even when she had offered to do whatever Atris needed to prove she deserved it back, Atris had rejected her outright. She'd just have to get a new one the old fashioned way. She'd been collecting parts for a while now and intended to talk to Bao-Dur about his possible aid once she found her friends and they collected their ship.

It had been Atris who had stolen the _Ebon Hawk_. Apparently, she'd been trying to dissect the records and navicomputer to determine the cause of the destruction of the Peragus facility. She had told her to have fun with that, the navicomputer was a mess. All she'd had to do was ask. She told her it was the Sith, but she wasn't sure Atris believed her. Atris seemed blinded by hate.

What she couldn't figure out was what Atris was doing down here in the first place. Tucked away in this forgotten Jedi academy with a bunch of girls who looked like her and couldn't use the Force. It was downright creepy. She figured she'd talk to one of the girls and see what she could find out about where her friends were and maybe learn something of Atris' intentions.

She made it back into the strange round room and went up to one of the hooded women in white Atris had called 'handmaidens'.

"I'm searching for my friends," she said.

"You will find them in the main irrigation channel room," the pale handmaiden said. "The particle emitters there that once governed the flow of water to Telos can double as force cages."

Force cages? Atton wouldn't like that. She frowned.

"So they are prisoners?" she said sharply.

"They were caged for their safety until we could determine your intent, exile. Atris cautioned us against your tactics, fearing that your allies would create a distraction," said the hooded young woman.

She went on, "Your companions gave us little trouble, however. The male could have presented some challenge if he had resisted, but he chose not to."

"Atton?" she asked, surprised.

"He has had some Echani training," the handmaiden replied. "He masks it well, but when you were in danger, his mask dropped into a stance we know well."

She filed that interesting bit of information away for later.

She asked the handmaiden, "What can you tell me about your mistress?"

"She leads us. As she rebuilds Telos, she rebuilds the order... and through them, the galaxy."

Sounds like Atris is doing a lot, she thought dryly.

She asked, "And how does she plan to do that?"

"We serve the Jedi, we do not question them," came the response.

That must be nice.

"But why is Atris here?" she tried.

"Shortly before the destruction of Dantooine, by the forces of the traitor Jedi Malek, Atris had many Jedi artifacts and knowledge transported here secretly," the pale maiden said.

"Artifacts?" she asked.

"Yes, many relics from Dantooine."

"I see," she said.

She had a lot to think about as she wandered the halls in search of the irrigation channel. What was Atris doing down here with all these brainwashed women and a bunch of Jedi artifacts? And bugging her more was, where had Atton received his Echani training, and why hadn't he told her about it? That could have been useful. To be fair, she hadn't told him everything about her past either. Although he probably was starting to fill in some of the gaps on his own, now that the Force had brought Bao-Dur back into her life. She'd have to try and break the Zabrak of all that General business, that wasn't who she was anymore.

When she found her captive companions, both Atton and Bao-Dur were out cold. She didn't believe Kreia's story that Atton was just tired from the journey either. She released the force fields and the men started to come to. She moved to help Atton to his feet.

"Enhhh..." he said, starting to rise. "Hey, you're back with us. We were just on our way to rescue you from those ghost women, when... uh, we got locked up."

She said, "Are you okay? You look a little disoriented."

"Nah..." said Atton. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

He seemed to regain some clarity and said, "Uh... how did things go with the Jedi here? Are you all done?"

"Not exactly," she said hesitantly. "I've agreed to help them. Or her rather. There's only one."

"Atris," said Atton.

She looked at him and he shrugged. He was full of surprises today.

"Lucky guess," he said.

She asked again, "Are you sure you're all right? What happened in there?"

His face was unreadable but he said, "Ya, I'm fine. Another Jedi pulling strings is just not exactly what I wanted to hear."

She sighed. She hadn't wanted to do this, in truth, she quite liked having the pilot around, and not just for his flying abilities, but she knew it was only right.

"You've done enough, Atton," she said. "You can go, if you want."

"Nah," he said. "I was just complaining. Heh. I'm with you until things start going better for you."

She noticed his baleful look at Kreia before he answered. She noticed the forced lightness of his tone. But she found such relief in his answer, how she responded was to grab his hand in both of hers.

"Thanks, Atton, I appreciate it," she said.

She really meant it.

He shifted uneasily and said, "Uh, hey. Don't mention it. It's my pleasure."

Noticing his discomfort, she let go of his hand. She hadn't meant to make him uncomfortable. She turned to check on her former engineer.

As she walked up, Bao-Dur said, "I... am sorry, General. I must have lost consciousness in the crash."

"There is nothing to apologize for. Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.

"I am fine, General. Even power has been restored to my arm," said the Zabrak.

Mostly convinced and ready to get out of this place, she said, "All right, then. Let's go."

They all moved out. The party passed through multiple corridors of those spooky blonde women in white, but it wasn't long before they found T3, locked in another containment field. He beeped at her.

"Well, if it isn't the one who stole the _Ebon Hawk_. Not so smug now, are you?" said Atton.

She was horrified to find herself giggling.

Kreia interjected, "Don't be a fool - Atris stole the _Ebon Hawk_."

T3 started beeping again.

"Your behavior core..." she said, "they didn't memory wipe you, did they?"

She had grown quite fond of the little utility unit. He responded in beeps and whistles.

"It wasn't your fault they took the ship, T3."

"I bet it was," said Atton grumpily.

T3 continued beeping.

"Wait, they downloaded what from you?" she said, ignoring Atton this time.

He was still beeping, but she cut him off then, saying, "You can fill me in later - let me get you out of there first."

When she lowered the field, they all got to the ship in a hurry. Once in the _Ebon Hawk_, they zoomed out into the snow of Telos and the atmosphere beyond, with no real destination yet chosen.

Then, when they were all assembled in the main hold, T3 informed them that the link with Atris' system had been two-way, and while she had copied many of their records, she had been mostly unsuccessful with the navicomputer and he had managed to collect some of Atris' files in return, including a holo of the trial that left her exiled.

Which was how she found herself watching in defeat as her entire crew witnessed her greatest moment of shame. It seemed like it had just happened, even now. Standing there in the center of the Jedi High Council as they weighed her crimes and judged her no longer a Jedi. As Kavar failed to speak up in her defense. As Atris raged. As Vrook… did what he always did.

But there was something new at the end of the recording, something she had not been a party to. Those council members then discussed a teacher, Revan's teacher, and their belief that it was those teachings that led Revan and the others astray. She didn't know anything about that, Revan had already risen to the rank of Jedi Knight by the time they had met.

When all the painful discussing and speculating over what they had learned from the recording was over, she went in search of Bao-Dur to ask him about the lightsaber. She had been right about him, he knew exactly what was needed and they decided together they would journey to Dantooine to seek out the missing components.

He had called the lightsaber a part a her. She thought about what that meant as she headed for the starboard dorm to get some rest. The blade of a lightsaber was just plasma, controlled by the Force of the user, directed through crystal. So one was literally a part of the weapon. But it was more than that. She had made her first lightsaber while being raised to Padawan. It had been her second test, following learning and understanding the Jedi Code. She had loved constructing that weapon. The first time she turned it on and it had worked, she'd known she'd never let go of it. And she hadn't, not until the day she was exiled when she had struck it into the center stone of the council chamber, before storming out.

But Bao-Dur was right, she wasn't that woman who had followed Revan to war anymore, and that wasn't her lightsaber anymore. It was time for a fresh start. She was thinking good thoughts as she drifted off to sleep in her bunk.


	11. General Relativity

Bao-Dur spent his first night aboard the _Ebon Hawk _fiddling in the garage. It seemed like a quiet place to get some work done and reflect on the sudden change his life had taken now that he'd met the General again. She came by, asking for help with building a lightsaber. He had spent a good deal of time around the Jedi in the Mandalorian Wars, and while they hadn't ever let him get as close to their lightsabers as he would have liked, they taught him a great deal about them. He looked forward to the General having one again, she seemed a bit lost in this new setting and he hoped it would help.

He looked around at the new setting in question, the ship they were on, the _Ebon Hawk_. It was a fair ship, all things considered; he could tell it would serve them well, and he suspected it had an interesting history. But whoever had done these repairs was a very strange mechanic. He was quietly imagining why that could be when his thoughts were interrupted by the pilot.

"We're on course for Dantooine, we should be there in a couple of hours..." said Atton. "Got a minute?"

He didn't look up from what he was working on. "I'm a little busy here. What is it?"

The pilot said, "Won't take more than a minute."

This time he glanced up at the man and said, "All right. I'll work while you talk."

"Look, your friend, the Jedi - you know her from way back, don't you. How much do you know about her really?" said Atton.

"Her?" he asked. "You mean the General? Yeah, during the war, if that's what you mean by way back. Can't say I know much about her though."

Atton said, "Better than anyone else on this ship. Just give me your opinion, okay? And don't laugh."

Bao-Dur was afraid he knew where this was going. He had noticed the pilot's behavior on Telos.

"I'm trying to work here, Atton," he said mildly.

"I was just wondering if you thought, maybe, she and I might-"

He cut the pilot off, "You're being serious. Atton, she was a general. I was just a tech. Your guess is as good as mine."

Atton said, "Well, what's your guess then?"

He turned away from the man. "I'm getting back to work."

"Hey!" said the pilot. "I'm being serious here."

The T3-M4 started to beep at Atton. He chuckled to himself at what the little droid had to say.

"You're laughing at me?" muttered Atton to the utility unit. "I'll put you up on the scrap heap, you walking tin can."

When the pilot finally headed back to his home in the cockpit, Bao-Dur breathed a sigh of relief and got back to work. In truth, he had also noticed the General's behavior towards the pilot, but it certainly wasn't his place to say anything. She wasn't exactly the woman he remembered from the war, though. He could see that the actions at Malachor hung heavily on her. She didn't seem quite as sure of herself. Lost. He figured this Atton was a good thing, he'd just prefer to let it play out on his own, rather than get involved.

He'd heard about what had happened on Dantooine and he knew that that was where the General had grown up. He suspected what she would have to face there wouldn't be easy; she might need that pilot before all was done.

Bao-Dur lost himself in ship repairs, but he looked up when he heard footsteps coming from the starboard dorm.

She smiled at him sleepily and said, "We just got to Dantooine, did you want to come planetside?"

"If you need me, General," he said, "of course I'll be there."

As they exited the ship, she turned to him and said, "Really, you don't have to call me 'General', I don't think I even am one anymore."

He, the General, and Atton then stepped off of the ship and into the center of a large square landing pad not far from the ruins of the Jedi Enclave.

"So, why are we here again?" Atton was saying. "I'm not exactly a big fan of entering Jedi nests."

"Nests?" questioned the General.

There was a touch of mocking in her voice. It was good to see she had her sense of humor still, she might need that too.

"Wasn't this a Jedi den or whatever?" asked the pilot.

"There was a Jedi Enclave here," she said. "It was destroyed by Malek. But Atris' files said there should be a Jedi Master here still... not my favorite Jedi Master, but he should be warned."

She was muttering to herself now, but Bao-Dur was close enough to hear, "...not anyone's favorite Jedi..."

She was still going on when a droid walked up and welcomed them to the planet. The droid was battered and in bad need of repairs, but between he and the General they had him fixed up in short order.

The protocol droid then said, "Greetings, Jedi. Welcome back to Dantooine."

When it did, a man came running up to their group. "Did that droid just call you a Jedi?" he said accusingly.

The General said easily, "The droid is obviously malfunctioning. Do I look like a Jedi?"

"Well," said the older gentleman, "I suppose not. Your eyes aren't glowing and you don't have horns growing out of your forehead."

Bao-Dur sniffed slightly at that; as a Zabrak, he _did_ have horns growing out of his head. But that did put him in mind of something he'd been wanting to say to the General. He waited as she gracefully extricated herself from the conversation with the Dantooine man and Bao-Dur caught up to her as she headed for the only building in sight.

"Hey, General. Are you all right?" he said.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, looking surprised.

He said, "You look like you've been standing too close to one of my shield generators."

She narrowed her eyes at him, but it was more comical than threatening, and pointed towards his glowing blue arm.

"You're one to talk," she said.

"Whoa," he put his hands up in mock defense. "Claws out today, aren't they?"

Atton was laughing in the background, but he stopped and said, "You know, I've noticed a glow around you, too."

The General turned to the pilot and said, "Really?"

He shrugged and said, "Sometimes, out of the corner of my eye... It's been happening more since whatever Chodo did to you. I figured it was some kinda Force thing."

She nodded. "You may be right."

Bao-Dur left them then to see what the droid merchant he had noticed behind the building had to offer, and when he was finished shopping, he turned and stopped, watching the General and the pilot as they had a casual conversation. She looked so free, so unguarded for the moment. And yes, she was practically glowing. Then she laughed out loud at something the young man had said. It made him smile to see she could still do that after everything she'd been through.

He decided then he'd stay with her as long as she'd let him. He wanted to do everything he could to ensure that smile came back for good. Bao-Dur still felt a strong sense of responsibility for what had happened back on Malachor. If he could help the General, he wanted to do so. He headed back over to tell them what he'd learned from the shopkeeper.

"Look-" Atton was speaking, "I'm just pointing out that Jedi don't exactly seem popular on this planet, and maybe you should keep a low profile."

He was right and Bao-Dur agreed, saying, "There are a lot of mercenaries on this planet with nothing to do, it seems. You would be a valuable commodity here, General, you should think about keeping your identity a secret."

"Mercenaries?" She said. "What are they doing here?"

"Causing problems, by the sound of it," he replied. "Also, there's a group of salvagers picking the ruins clean."

Her face turned an angry shade of red at that. "Those vultures! They have no right. Who's letting them do this?!"

Bao-Dur said quickly, "Apparently the leader here sanctions it. It's income for a community that otherwise has none."

She seemed to consider that before saying, "Then we should go speak with this leader," and marched into the building.


	12. Crystal Clarity

His ex-Jedi was a woman on a mission today. She'd been doing the same bit on Dantooine as she had on Telos, making friends with every person she ran into, asking about their problems, always ready to help. But it seemed more driven here than it had back on Citadel Station, more focused.

Atton remembered her telling him in the cockpit that this had been her home. He wondered how long she had lived here, if she had grown up here. It was common knowledge that most Jedi were sent to be trained as children, separated from their families, usually for the rest of their lives. And he knew Jedi were not supposed to form romantic attachments, but he knew human nature and was aware it happened more than they let on.

He frowned, thinking about that. Had his ex-Jedi had someone back on Dantooine? He didn't like that thought. Atton wondered if that was why she cried at night. Then he wondered if she was still doing that, he slept most nights in his pilot's chair, he hadn't watched her sleep since the apartment over Telos... Not that he had been watching her sleep then.

On the whole, she seemed much more at peace with herself than he had ever seen. He hadn't actually known her that long, but it felt like he had somehow. They'd been through a lot of crazy stuff, after all.

She appeared before him, having just finished meeting with the leader of this small settlement on the ruined planet.

"I was wrong," she announced. "Master Vrook _is _someone's favorite Jedi."

His leader visibly shuddered.

Then she went on, "And that woman's entire economic plan involves stripping the Enclave bare."

Her face showed clearly her disapproval.

"So, not a good meeting?"

She half smiled at him and said, "It was a fine meeting, and she really seems like a nice lady, she actually reminds me of someone I used to know. But Master Vrook? Oh well, we'll help her in spite of her bad taste."

"Hey, can't fault a girl for bad taste," he grinned at her, "or I'd never get laid."

She smirked at him.

Bao-Dur broke in, sounding a bit uncomfortable, "General, did you learn anything from the Administrator beyond her feelings for the Jedi Master?"

She looked chagrined and said, "Two things. There's a kinrath problem that needs to be taken care of... and the _Ebon Hawk _used to be a Jedi vessel."

"You mean, a Jedi besides you?" Atton asked, surprised. "I thought it was a smuggler's ship."

"So did I," she said. "So who do you suppose landed here in that ship with a lightsaber on them?"

"Could have been anyone," he said. "How long ago are we talking?"

"I'm not sure, but I think we need to know where that ship has been and who had it before us," she said.

Then she strode across the bridge leading in the direction of the ruined Enclave and he and Bao-Dur trailed behind her. He never thought he'd spend so much time following around a Jedi, even if she was an ex, but as he stared at her ass, he thought, at least the view is good.

The three of them fought their way through a mass of kinrath, the giant insectoid alien monsters that roamed the plains here and their leader stopped in front of a cave.

"I thought we were going to the Jedi Enclave to see this Vrook guy," he said.

"First, we have to clear the kinrath nests out of this cave," she said. "They shouldn't be in a place like this."

She hurried into the cave before he could ask what she meant by a place like this. And she was right about the kinrath, the place was lousy with the little jerks. They passed some guy who was not being attacked by them and their leader stopped to ask him about it.

Further into the cave, when suddenly they were no longer being attacked by the kinrath, she turned to him and said, "Give it back, Atton."

He made his face one of perfect innocence. "Give what back?"

She scowled and said, "We do not steal. Not even from mercenaries. Besides, do you really want to be carrying around a rectum gland?"

He made a face and said, "Is that really what it is?"

"I'm afraid so," she said.

Atton tossed it at her and she caught it in a gloved hand. She then went all the way back to the entrance of the cave and returned the anti-kinrath rectum gland to the Twi'lek mercenary he had swiped it from, telling him he must have dropped it. The Twi'lek eyed them suspiciously as they headed back into the tunnels.

Atton wasn't crazy about her handing back the gland, even if it was gross. Not only did it mean they had to fight their way through more of those bug monsters, it also made him feel like he'd done something wrong taking it in the first place. It's not like she couldn't have easily talked the guy into letting them use it, she could talk anyone into anything. But she didn't, and he had been trying to help out. So as he fought his way through the cave, he spent his time wondering if she had him along for anything other than his flying skills.

After defeating what must have been the mother of all kinraths, Atton looked around at the cavern they had ended up in. It was filled with crystals of many colors, growing out of the ground, the walls, and the ceiling. He didn't know how, but he could hear something in this cavern, something he could not see.

What he _could_ see was that it was filled with kinrath eggs.

"We need to destroy those," he said. "So we know they won't come back."

His leader sighed and nodded.

"You're right," she said. "I really hate killing things that haven't done anything to me, but there really is no other option."

It seemed funny to him that she would care about something like that, but she was funny. When they had finished, Bao-Dur went to stand guard at the entrance to the crystal room in case any of the mercenaries should come looking for them.

Atton said to the woman, "This is a pretty amazing place."

She was digging around in a crystal formation. He watched as she emerged triumphantly holding a jagged crystal. She turned her head slightly, like she was listening to something that only she could hear, and he thought it must be a Jedi thing.

Then she noticed him and must have remembered he'd spoken, "Yes, it is amazing. I remember the first time I was here."

He was surprised by that, both that she'd been here before and her bringing it up.

"When was that?"

"When I was being raised to Padawan. We all go through it. I came with a Master to choose my first focus crystal."

"Your Master?" he asked.

She looked at him. He was afraid she was going to go blank again, but she said, "Master Kavar. He was the one who brought me here. I wasn't his Padawan formally."

Wow. He had heard of him. Anyone who had fought in the past two wars had heard of him. And he had been on the High Council, the one that had exiled his leader and cut her off from the Force. She wasn't his Padawan formally, what was that supposed to mean? Also, he was supposed to be dead.

She looked like she was remembering something and he wondered what her relationship to the famous Jedi had been. She had been young, sure, but she was beautiful. A face like that could break even a Jedi's resolve. It was clear to him there was something going on behind those eyes.

He said, "Is it hard being back here, surrounded by the past?"

She took her time in responding and finally said, "In a way. But also it's nice, the Force is louder here."

That wasn't what he was hearing. Whatever he was hearing, it wasn't that.

"We should go," he said in a harsher voice than he'd meant to use. "We still need to check out the Jedi Enclave before it gets dark."

She nodded and headed back to Bao-Dur. They headed for the cave exit with the Zabrak coming in behind them, but it was too late when they made it to open air. They had been in the cave longer than they realized and the sky was already dark.

"Tomorrow then," she said, turning back towards the new settlement of Khoonda where their ship was parked.

He caught up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, and said, "How about you walk slow enough we can keep up with you this time?"

She looked sheepish and said, "I'm sorry, I'm don't mean to always rush ahead."

"That's the General," said Bao-Dur, "Always charging headfirst into battle. Even when she's headed back to the ship for bed."


	13. The Disturbance

She did not have to search long for the disturbance she sought. It was a quiet sound a first, a humming in the Force, then a buzz, and now that she was so close, it was pounding in her head. Visas had followed this sound beyond sound with her damaged sight, her Force sensitivity. Once stronger than all her other senses combined, it was dulled now, her Master's doing. It was necessary.

It was at his bidding she was here. She could still feel the bruises from the Force choke he had evoked when she told him of this disturbance. Visas had thought she was going to die then, had been ready to die then, the final end she had been waiting for, bringing stillness to the chaos.

But her Master had had other plans for her and had sent her off in search of what he himself was blind to. And so here she was, on Dantooine, waiting on an old ship for the disturbance to come. It would not be long now; she could feel its closeness.

She was meditating, preparing for the battle that was to come. She heard the hatch open and saw with her sight beyond sight a woman entering the ship. This was the source, this was the disturbance she sought. But how could one soul bear so much pain, she wondered? It was as if she too carried the loss of a world. Visas had to steel her resolve, seeing the Force swirl around the disturbance, through her inner sight, as the disturbance cautiously walked down the corridor that would lead her here.

"What have you done to my crew?" said the disturbance.

Visas stood and pulled out her lightsaber, moving easily into a fighting stance. She twirled her weapon around in a fluid motion, moving to take a casual swipe at the disturbance. The woman she was fighting had no lightsaber, she was just using a simple metal sword.

She swung her saber again, almost searing the woman's light armor. Visas had no eyes beneath her veil, but she saw much clearer than her opponent, through the Force. Bringing her weapon down in a slicing motion, she felt her lightsaber burn the skin of her opponent. She was suddenly struck in the side by the disturbance. Why had the sight failed her there?

Visas came at the woman again, angry, and using that emotion as her Master had taught her. But as she raised the weapon, the woman's blade crashed down on the handle of her lightsaber. She felt the red glow dissolve and she knew she was beaten.

"My lightsaber... you have destroyed it. I yield... Master. It is as I heard through the Force."

She knelt before her new Master. "My life... for yours."

"Get up, I'm not going to kill you!" said her new master.

"You must," she said fervently. "The alternative is only another death... and I would rather die by your hands."

She could already find herself hoping her new Master would win, but knew that she would not. Her old Master would not stop until all the universe was destroyed, as it must be.

"Look-" her new Master said, "you're wounded. Stand up and let me get you to the med bay."

She let herself to led the medical bay where she could feel the hostility from a human male. He viewed her with suspicion; she could feel it burning hot. They set to work on her injuries together, her new Master and the male. They administered a sleeping agent and her body fell quickly to sleep, but that did not limit her sight.

The male said, "Now I've seen everything. This woman... she's a Miraluka. I didn't think any were left in this part of the galaxy."

There are not, Visas thought to herself. They all died when Katarr was destroyed, what she was now was something else. But her sleeping body stayed silent.

"What's a Miraluka?" said her new Master.

"Yeah, they're a pretty secretive race, they 'see' through the Force," said the male. "I'm not sure how you'd go about killing one. It'd be pretty tricky."

"We're not killing her!" the Master said.

Please, she thought frantically. It is what must be. My life for yours!

"Just mentioning it-" said the male. "I mean, she is a Dark Jedi who infiltrated our ship to assassinate you."

"Atton," said the Master in a different voice than she'd heard before. "I didn't know you cared."

"I don't!" said the Atton. "I don't care. I was just pointing out that it might not be a bad idea."

She could feel her Master's hurt through the Force. Interesting that she should be swayed so. Still, her voice betrayed none of the emotion Visas could see.

The Master said, "Of course. I would never expect any different."

Atton then said, "You're hurt too, that's quite a burn on your arm!"

She remembered slicing her Master's arm with her lightsaber, she hoped she had not done too much damage.

She could see the Force radiating from where they were standing in a corner of the small medical room now; he was fretting over her arm, cleaning it and dousing it with some antiseptic. For one who professed not to care, it was clear to Visas through her sight that that was not the case.

Once he was sufficiently convinced that the Master was properly taken care of, he said, "Are you sure that's the only place she got you? Maybe I should do a more thorough investigation. Take off your clothes."

Her Master said, "You first."

Atton looked towards her sleeping body on the medical table and said, "Maybe this isn't the best place for that."

"I'm glad you realize that," said her Master.

Then she too, looked towards Visas' sleeping body.

"Is she going to be all right?" she asked Atton.

"Well," he said. "Some of her wounds are pretty bad – looks like she was already carrying her share of scars, though. I think she'll recover, yeah."

Her Master said, "If her condition changes, let me know – I didn't want to hurt her. I'm going to go get some sleep."

She then walked out of the room, leaving Visas alone with her male attendant. She lay there in the silence for a few hours, until the sedatives were off. When her body was awake again, she rose and the Atton was still there, leaning against a wall with a blaster in his hand, watching her warily.

"Who sent you?" he said.

"I serve my Master," Visas said. "I am an emissary, a scout."

"Yeah, that's kinda what I figured," said the Atton. "How did you find her?"

"My Master was aware of a disturbance in the Force, but was unaware of its nature, of her. The disturbance is not something one feels from a living thing."

"Wait," he said, "_She's_ the disturbance in the Force?"

Visas nodded. "Yes. I... felt her, heard her though the Force. It was like a sound, on the edge of hearing. And when I heard it, I found I could not ignore it."

She could feel his agitation. Wondering what he was thinking, she reached into his mind, catching a glimpse of her new Master before the image was wiped away and there was a blank slate.

She could hear him say between gritted teeth, "If you ever do that again, I will kill you, no matter what she wants."

She remained quiet. It was unusual for one to be so aware, but she could see he was touched by the Force. And she had not been surprised by what she had seen there.

"And stay out of her head too," he added. "She's got enough going on in there."

She knew better than to try to enter into the Master's mind, she had already proven her power far exceeded Visas' own, but she said nothing.

"I don't know why she wants to keep you around, but don't make me regret letting you live."

He walked out of the room. She thought it best to go back to the dormitory she had first settled in, it was secluded and she would need to meditate. As she stepped out of the medical bay, she walked right into something cold and metal... a droid, bruising her shin. It beeped at her and then she heard it moving away, but she had no idea what it was saying.

She would have to be more careful in the future, she thought. She could not sense mechanical constructs; they were not of the Force. Rubbing her knee slightly, she headed back to the starboard dorm.


	14. Not Getting Attached

He was playing pazaak in his head; it was always a good idea to keep your mind occupied on a ship full of Jedi who couldn't be trusted. He'd been bored waiting for their fearless leader to get out of her "lesson" with the old witch and it was something to pass the time. He was hoping she planned on taking him with her to the Jedi Enclave. Not that he had any interest in entering a Jedi nest, but at least they were supposed to all be gone now.

He was on a four game winning streak when he felt it. It wasn't Kreia's ripping his thoughts from his mind, and it wasn't like the Sith assassin's intrusive prodding, it was more like a knock, blunt and insistent in his head. And then it was gone. He could guess.

Sure enough, not long after, his pretty ex-Jedi came marching into the cockpit, looking determined.

He leaned back casually in his pilot's seat.

"Something up?" he said.

"Atton, why do you play pazaak in your head?"

The woman was nothing if not direct.

"Passes the time," he said. "It's better than listing off engine sequencers, memorizing hyperspace routes, or counting ticks in the power couplings."

He laughed to himself as she was completely diverted for a moment.

"There are no ticks in the power couplings – it's fixed!" she said adamantly.

"Of course it's fixed," he said. "And that's why you should count the ticking in the power coupling too."

Her confusion was palpable. "You're not making any sense," she said, sounding exasperated.

He frowned at her and thought how best to explain.

"Why do I play pazaak?" he said. "All right, I'll show you."

He pulled out his deck and she groaned. For someone who was good at everything, she was a lousy pazaak player.

"Look-" she said. "I really don't have the credits to lose to you again."

"We're not playing for credits," he said grinning. "We're playing for something else."

"We better not be using Nar Shaddaa rules," she said eying him suspiciously. "I was tricked into that once before in the Outer Rim."

He snickered and said, "Nope, sadly, our clothes are going to stay on..."

"All right," she said.

They played a quick hand, which she lost of course, and he was silently cursing himself for not insisting on Nar Shaddaa rules.

All he said though was, "Good match... now what are you thinking about right now?"

"I'm thinking I suck at this stupid game," she said sullenly.

"Right," he said. "And that's why I play pazaak in my head. Because if you don't, you've left the door wide open. And anyone could walk in."

She looked down at the cards uncomfortably and said, "Atton, before, I felt your mind. With Kreia's help. I'm sorry."

"Of course you did," said Atton. "You see, Jedi... light or dark... do it, more often than you'd think. But I never heard one say they were sorry before... that's a new house rule."

"It won't ever happen again, I promise," she said. She went on, "You play pazaak to shield your thoughts?"

"No," he said patiently. "I just play pazaak in my head. But while I'm doing that, it's a lot harder for someone to walk in."

She looked nervously around her and said, "Can you teach me to shield my thoughts like that?"

"No. I can only teach you to play pazaak. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

She clearly didn't. He tried again.

"If you're ever fighting someone who has the power over your mind... whether light or dark... play pazaak. And when they try to use their powers on you, suddenly it's not as easy as they thought."

He picked her hand up from where it was resting on the pazaak cards and said, "Because you'll be right here with me, playing pazaak, where they can't reach you."

She spent a moment digesting that and then looked up at him, smiling, "Thank you, Atton!"

And then she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tight. It caught him completely by surprise, the suddenness of her body pressed against him. It shouldn't have, he'd seen her hug loads of people, but now his hands were on her waist and he could smell her hair. He thought she must have been aware of it too, he could feel her leaning into him, her head practically resting on his shoulder when something occurred to him.

"Was there someone in particular you needed to keep out?" he asked.

She pulled away, blank. Stricken, he realized he had ruined everything again.

"No," she said, "Just seemed like valuable information. I should go get a crew together for the Enclave."

And then she was gone. Atton was quite sure he wasn't going to be invited to the Jedi nest now, so he was surprised when Bao-Dur stuck his head into the cockpit a few minutes later.

"Are you coming?" asked the Zabrak. "You're the only one in the crew that can use a blaster that isn't a droid, and I don't think T3 was built for trekking through Jedi ruins."

Frustrated and a little resentful, he said "Does she even want me there?"

Bao-Dur raised an eyebrow and said, "Well, the General said to ask you, and if you were busy, to see if the Miraluka would like to come."

Of all the insane... He jumped up.

"Is she crazy? She's gonna take the Sith?! She _is_ crazy!" he said as he stormed out of the cockpit.

She was laughing at the entrance.

"Ready?" she said, giving him a bemused look.

He stalked off the ship and started off in the direction of the Jedi Enclave. It didn't take long for her to catch up, Bao-Dur keeping a respectful distance.

"I'm sorry I clammed up back there," she said. "I'm not very good at all of this... Any of this."

"Sure could have fooled me," he said.

"The thing is..." she went on. "Kreia and I seem to have developed a Force bond. A very strong one."

He remembered again her falling to the ground, screaming in agony. Clutching her left hand. He'd always known. He didn't like it, didn't want to see it. But how could he not.

"How strong?" he asked.

"If I died, she'd die..." she said. "And the other way around."

"Are you kidding me?" he said incredulously. "Anything happens to the old hag and you're toast?"

She stopped walking. "It doesn't feel so good when you put it that way, but yes."

He was an idiot. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean it like that."

"I know," she said ruefully.

"So that's why you want to shield your thoughts?" he asked.

"She speaks to me in my head sometimes. I was just wondering... if there was any way to protect myself from voices in my head," she said.

That nosy witch, he wasn't surprised. He'd never understood why she kept Kreia around, much less took her advice. It was a little clearer now.

"Then just play pazaak," he said coolly.

She grinned at him conspiratorially. "And you'll be there playing with me."

"Right," he said, smiling back at her.

Right, he thought. This is _not_ not getting attached. But he didn't have time to think about that, they were now in front of the ruined Jedi Enclave, her home, and she was looking at it in horror. He could see her blinking back tears.

She was speaking quietly to herself, "Oh Squint, how could you? This was your home too."

"Squint?" he asked.

"Alek... Darth Malek," her voice was shaky. "He grew up here too. We always had an uneasy friendship, we had some things... in common. He was the one who introduced me to Revan, when she first came to Dantooine from Coruscant... he worshipped her."

"He was her apprentice, but I don't think Revan ever really saw him," she continued her reminiscing. "If you think I'm single-minded, then you should have seen her. She was from the Outer Rim, so she took the Mandalorian threat personally."

"Where were you from?" he asked.

She gave him one of those inscrutable looks she was so good at and said, "I'm not from anywhere."

She stepped lightly over the rubble towards the entrance to the Enclave. He and Bao-Dur followed close behind. Turned out, he had been right about the nests, they just weren't Jedi nests. Inside, they were met with laigreks... lots and lots of laigreks. And like the last insect monsters they met on this planet, they weren't the friendly kind. This time, those creepy little jerks came with at them with glowing red eyes.

"You always take me to the nicest places," he remarked.

She said wistfully, "You should have seen this place before, it was beautiful."

He felt properly chagrined; he probably shouldn't make jokes in a place like this. Not that he didn't have plenty more where that had come from.

Bao-Dur performed an impressive feat when their ex-Jedi sliced into the forgotten droid bay. He rigged half a dozen protocol droids to wander the Enclave, exploding anytime they happened upon one of those damn bugs. It was pretty smooth sailing after that.

When she got the door opened to the Jedi Archive however, Atton raised his gun. He didn't know who that man on the other side of it was, but he knew he was too young to be the Jedi Master she was looking for. But his headstrong companion walked right up to the stranger.

The pretty boy blond standing in front of them _bowed_ at his ex-Jedi. Of all the... he shook his head in disbelief.

"Thanks for the polite bow," she said, "You must be a gentleman. Atton, you should take notes."

He smirked at her back, but didn't lower the gun.

"I am a historian and scientist working for the Republic, although I am certain my contemporaries would judge me more a historian than scientist," said the pretty boy.

Contemporaries? Who was this guy kidding? There's no way his leader was buying this crap.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

A good question. See, she sees right through you, Pretty Boy. He glared at the newcomer over his leader's head.

"Like you, I was looking for some trace of the Jedi. I had heard mention that one of the Jedi Masters had gone there, but I found no trace of them."

"That's not the only reason," said his ex-Jedi perceptively.

"No," said the blond man. "The other reason was the ruins themselves... and once I arrived, I felt it was necessary to stay, to protect what was left."

He watched on in agony as his leader beamed a smile at the newcomer.

"Finally," she said, "someone with some sense on this planet!"

Atton scowled, but he lowered his blaster. Sense? The guy was a puffed up buffoon, how could she not see that already? At the rate she picked up strays, he needed to get her out of here, and fast. But it was too late.

The frivolous man bowed to her again and said, "If you would have me, I can apply my knowledge and skills to helping you find the answers you seek."

Atton spoke up then saying, "Look, we're already full up. We don't need anyone else. We travel light."

He then grabbed his ex-Jedi by the shoulders to lead her out of the room. She pulled away from him and gave him a sharp look.

She said to Pretty Boy, "We would welcome your company."


	15. Jedi Masters

They didn't even make it out of the ruined Enclave before he got to see his former Master in action for the first time. There were some mercenaries waiting for them at the exit, seeking the bounty on Jedi, but after giving them a chance to walk away, she sprung into battle like one of the great Jedi Masters in the stories he had collected.

Mical had never seen such fluid motion and grace. She swung her vibroblade around in a delicate and dangerous dance and one by one the mercenaries fell. He and the dark haired man that followed her around offered cover fire.

In truth, she had not been his Master, as he had not been a Padawan. He was a Disciple and she had been a Padawan about to move up when the war started. She did not seem to remember him, but he could not blame her, she had had many Disciples, and he had been hardly more than a child then.

He remembered her though. She had been one of the most loved and most hated Jedi on Dantooine. She was not overly strong in the Force herself, but she was strong in spirit, and others were drawn to her like moths to a flame. She had always been followed around the Enclave by a gaggle of fawning Disciples, himself included. She had remained aloof though, spending the majority of her time with Master Kavar when he was on Dantooine. He also remembered her spending a good deal of time with Malek, but he never got the impression they were friends.

He followed her out of the Enclave and into daylight.

The horned Zabrak said, "I'm going to head back to the ship, there's still some repairs that need to be done."

She smiled at him and said, "Thank you, Bao-Dur, for your help today."

"Anytime, General."

And then he left them.

"I never want to do that again," said the sullen looking man who also came with his Master, "I really hate giant bugs."

His Master scrunched up her nose. "Me too, but I have a feeling we'll be back here."

The man said sarcastically, "I have a feeling I'll have a bad feeling about that."

She chuckled and started walking back towards the settlement of Khoonda and both Mical and the other man moved to follow. She stopped at the salvager's camp to settle some unfinished business. He watched her return a lost salvager's will, asking for no reward, talk a unscrupulous businessman into doing the right thing, and give hundreds of credits to a stranger so he could get home to his family. He was proud to be along.

As they were heading back to the ship, the other man traveling with them said, "Come on, tell me you saw through that guy's story. He had no wife and kids. He just wanted off this rock."

"Of course he was lying, Atton," she said. "But if he wants to go that bad, let him."

Mical was confused and he said so. "But you knew that man was lying and you still gave him money?"

"Another salvager that'll keep his greedy paws off of the Enclave," she said.

He could see the wisdom in that.

"It was a waste," the man that must be Atton was saying. "If you were in any danger of him finding anything out there, he wouldn't have been trying to pass off a phony holocron."

His former Master let out an exasperated sigh. "Did you need the money, Atton? Is that what this is about? Do you want me to buy you something pretty?"

"No," said Atton. "I don't need anything from you."

Atton then stalked off ahead of them in the direction of the ship and was soon out of sight. His former Master let out another exasperated sigh and smiled at him.

"I'm sorry about that," she said. "He does this sometimes."

She was still looking off in the direction the brown haired man had gone with a concerned expression on her face.

Mical said, "There is something I have observed, and now I feel I must say it."

She turned to him, startled.

"I have found your presence to be... inspiring. I understand now why others followed you into war."

She looked a little sad when she said, "Trust me, it's all an act. I'm shaking on the inside."

Then she added, touching his arm, "I thank you for your kind words, but they are not necessary."

He could feel his face turning red and his heart was racing.

"Very well," he said. "Then I shall keep my favorable opinions to myself."

They continued the rest of the way back to the ship in an uncomfortable silence.

When they arrived at her ship, she said, "Make yourself at home anywhere, I have to go see a Zabrak about a lightsaber."

He was left alone on the deck. He made himself comfortable in the medical bay, spending his time getting acclimated with the console system there. After a few hours, he was satisfied with what he had learned and decided to explore the rest of the ship.

He first found the garage, where he located the Zabrak that had been with his Master when they had met him in the Archives.

"Greetings to you," he said. "I am to be a member of this crew for a time."

"So, you're a friend of the General's?" said the Zabrak, not looking up from his work.

Mical was confused for a moment before he realized who he must be talking about.

"Oh, you mean Master -" he was abruptly cut off.

"I wouldn't say that name if I were you," said the Zabrak. "I don't get the impression the General would appreciate hearing it too much."

He was still confused, but he accepted that.

"If you say so," he said. "I am Mical, once a Disciple of the Jedi order."

Bao-Dur chuckled and said, "I am Bao-Dur, once a military tech. Now I keep the _Ebon Hawk_ running."

He asked, "How many are on this ship?"

Bao-Dur looked up thoughtfully and said, "Well, there's the old lady, Kreia, in the port dorm. The one in the red veil is Visas Marr. She spends most of her time in the starboard dorm meditating. There's the utility droid, T3, he's always working on something."

He asked, "What about the other one that was with you when we met?"

Bao-Dur said, "Oh, that's Atton Rand. He's the pilot."

"He certainly seems to lack proper respect for our leader," he said. "Does he always argue with her like that?"

"He does," said Bao-Dur passively.

"And no one does anything about it?" he asked surprised.

"The General does," said the Zabrak. "She argues right back at him."

Well, it seemed completely disrespectful to him. He went back to the medical bay and stood adjusting the controllers, still thinking about that when she suddenly appeared in the doorway, a lightsaber dangling conspicuously at her waist.

"I think I know where Master Vrook is," said his former Master. "I thought you might want to come along."

"Of course," he said. "Let us go at once."

When they made it out into the main hold she shouted towards the cockpit, "We're leaving now, Atton, did you want to come?"

She then kept walking. What unusual behavior for a Jedi. Atton came running to catch up as they were stepping off the ship.

"Dammit," said the pilot, "Some warning would be nice."

"You could stay here if you want," she said. "I don't think it's anything the two of us couldn't handle."

The pilot sputtered furiously.

"Surely," Mical said. "If he would rather stay here, I would be more than ready to do whatever was needed."

"I'll just bet he would," he could hear Atton muttering.

His former Master looked as confused as he was. They had offered to let him stay behind if he wished, and invited him along if he felt like coming. What more did the man expect? But he came along in spite of his foul mood, casting baleful looks at Mical the entire trip to the cave.

When they got inside, they had not traveled far when they were attacked by kinrath.

"I thought we got rid of all of these," said Atton.

"So did I," said his Master.

She pulled the lightsaber from her belt and it immediately lit up. Atton turned to her in surprise.

"Where did that come from?" he asked.

She grinned back at him from where she was fighting a large insect and said, "Bao-Dur helped me put it together. I've been collecting parts for a while now."

Atton said grumpily, "Do you think there's anything you could do to make yourself a bigger target for the Exchange?"

But Mical noticed Atton watching appreciatively as she danced through the lightsaber forms, making her way through the kinrath. He could not blame the man, she was very skilled. He found himself watching too, and realized he had become distracted and took aim at a kinrath.

Once the fighting had ended, she ushered them forward to where she was standing and said in a hushed tone, "I think this is where the mercenaries have got Master Vrook."


	16. Uneven Odds

Atton was pretty fed up with his fearless leader already when he watched her walk straight into the cavern of Jedi hunting mercenaries, but what could he do but follow? Alongside him was the pretty boy, Mical; she had brought him along so there would be someone to fawn over her.

The female mercenary standing in front said, "How the hell did you get through the kinrath? You should leave."

The mercenary had her heavy rifle trained on his ex-Jedi.

She said defiantly, "I am here to rescue Master Vrook."

The mercenary said, "We are highly trained veterans. And you're just a couple of settlers with a toy blaster. We're taking the Jedi to Nar Shaddaa, and that is the end of it."

Tired of seeing the gun pointed at her, he decided to show the mercenary what his 'toy blaster' could do and shot her in the arm. His leader immediately pulled out her lightsaber and the battle was begun in earnest.

When it was over she rushed up to him, "Why did you shoot at her? I could have ended that peacefully."

"Sweetheart, that was never gonna happen," he said.

Mical looked scandalized. The old man in the Force cage he could only assume was Master Vrook regarded them impassively.

Once they released him, the old man said disapprovingly to their leader, "Always rushing into action without thinking of the consequences."

Obviously he knew her.

"Always a pleasure, Vrook," she said. "I see you still have your cheery disposition."

"Is this a joke to you?" said Master Vrook. "People's lives are at stake."

Now Atton found himself getting irritated at the grumpy old man. They had just risked their asses to save him and _no one_ was more aware of the lives at stake than she was!

He started to say so when the blond idiot tapped him on the shoulder and said quietly, "Atton, I think we should allow the Masters to speak uninterrupted."

He glowered at Mical, but kept his mouth shut.

His ex-Jedi was saying, "Okay. What should we do now?"

Vrook said, "I need to get to Khoonda and warn them. The mercenaries plan to attack them, and they could do so at any moment."

He knew what was coming next.

"How can I help?" said his pretty friend.

That's how he had ended up here, laying down some of his own mines in a pathetically sparse mine field the settlers of Khoonda had attempted. His ex-Jedi and her pretty boy follower had gone off to talk people into fighting. That sounded like a lost cause to him, but the woman was damn persuasive.

As he worked he thought about how much he had changed in the short time since he had met her. For instance, here he was in the middle of an impending battle against uneven odds, and he wasn't even considering desertion. He looked up and noticed her walking towards him, on her own.

"Where's your new friend?" he asked.

"He went back to the ship to get everyone ready for the battle," she said. "But Atton, you won't believe it!"

"Believe what?" he asked warily.

"I kept thinking Mical looked familiar, so I finally asked him about it, and it turns out I knew him when I was a Jedi. He was slated to be my Apprentice, but then the war happened."

Super, he thought.

"What does that mean," he asked. "That he's a Jedi too?"

Her face cracked. Was she always so easy to read, or did he just know her that well already?

"No," she said. "Like me, he turned away from that path. He said, he knew if he was to have a Master, it must be me, that he'd never felt the Force as strongly as he had when he was with me... he walked away from them because of me."

A cold fury burned inside of him that he was loath to call jealousy, but he pushed that aside, knowing she would not understand anyways and it would just lead to another argument. She was already upset, taking on more blame, and he didn't need to make it worse right before she planned on fighting the mercenaries. He would deal with the 'Disciple' annoyance later. And that's all that guy was, an annoyance.

"What's really bothering you?" he asked. "Cause it's not that guy."

She looked at him surprised at said, "No, I guess you're right. Hearing his reasons for leaving the Order made me consider my own reasons for leaving."

"To fight in the war?" he said.

"There was that of course... the Mandalorian's would not have stopped until the entire galaxy was under their command. But I don't think that was all of it."

She sighed and looked him in the eyes with a haunted look he hadn't seen before, saying, "We're doing the right thing, aren't we, Atton?"

He didn't know exactly what she was referring to but he said, "I don't think I've ever known anyone more inclined to do the right thing than you."

Winking at her, he said, "But let's not make this a habit – I don't want your good nature rubbing off on me."

That seemed to do the trick. She smiled at him and said, "Almost showtime," before heading back towards Khoonda's 'capital building'.

What a joke, he thought; it was Khoonda's _only_ building. He headed back to the ship to get ready for the battle himself. Shortly after he entered the cockpit, the damn Disciple barged in.

"Do you need a hand?" he asked with his stupid blond face.

"No," muttered Atton. "I don't. I'll call you if I need someone useless."

The blond idiot asked, "Is there some problem? I was only offering to help."

"Problem?" Atton said. "No, no problem. Just wondering how long you're planning to stick around."

I'll be happy to drop you on a sun somewhere, he thought to himself.

"For as long as she needs me, of course," said the Disciple.

He advanced on the man, "How heroic of you. Well, she doesn't need you. In fact, we were doing just fine until you showed up."

Mical replied, "Actually, there are times when it seems you could use some h-"

Cutting him off, Atton continued ranting, "Always with the details, aren't you? You can't fool me. You have some agenda, spying on her, always keeping your eye on her."

"No, no I don't," said the Disciple. "I simply admire her. She has many qualities worthy of respect, and a strength that matches her beauty. Surely you've noticed."

Of course he had. He'd also noticed the Disciple noticing her "qualities" while she was dancing around with that lightsaber. He saw right through the pretty boy interloper.

"Yeah, and I noticed first," he said. "Get it? So cut it out."

He should have stopped there, but he kept going, "And another thing – stop being all noble around her, in your big hero way. She sees right through your little act. She likes honest guys, not guys who run around being unselfish and heroic all the time."

He pushed right past Blondie to exit the cockpit as the Disciple was saying, "I thought she was the hero."

Honest guys... dammit.

As he stormed off the ship and back towards the battle grounds, he could hear Bao-Dur's laughter from the garage. What did he know, he muttered to himself as he went to find their leader. He found her back at the capital building rousing the troops. He shouldn't be surprised by her ability to inspire people, he'd seen it happen plenty of times before now, but he couldn't help stand back and watch.

When the lines broke up and people started taking their positions to ready for the assault, he walked over to her. They stood side by side in silence for a minute before he said anything.

"Are you ready?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

She was always ready.

"For the attack?" she asked. "As possible. I fixed up some defense droids I found inside and a medical droid. Mical and I talked to every person in Khoonda, I think. Some agreed to help. There was a busted door, I tried fixing the security lock, but it was impossible; I finally just had to smash in the door. Now at least nothing will get in or out. But even with all that... there will be losses."

"Thanks for your help with the minefield, things tend to blow up when I'm around."

"I've noticed," he said dryly.

They walked into Khoonda's only building together. Inside was chaos. There were men crammed all through the tight corridors, weapons were being hefted around, the air was heavy with shouts and curses and the smell of sweat.

She left him there, saying, "I just have to go check in on Administrator Adare."

Not long after, the rest of her collection of followers entered the building and came to stand near him.

Bao-Dur said, "How is the General doing?"

He shrugged and said, "Same as ever, I guess."

Blondie was looking at him nervously and glancing off towards the Administrator's office. He'd also found some ridiculous purple armor somewhere.

Atton said, "We're going to be in this hallway, fortifying the defense of the lady in charge. If the Administrator is lost, the settlement is lost; the mercs will just take over."

That's when his ex-Jedi showed back up, saying "They've been spotted on the security monitors crossing the bridge."

She pulled her shiny new lightsaber from her belt, he couldn't help watch as she swung it easily a few times, preparing for what was to come. He knew the lightsaber was another danger, marking her easily as the Jedi she claimed not to be, but watching her move smoothly from one stance to another, he couldn't deny he was drawn to it. Drawn to her.

Damn Jedi's getting into his head all over again. Kreia was right, if he had to kill this one, it would break him.

And then the mercenaries broke through all of their defenses and everything else was pushed out of his mind during the fight. He stayed back, taking sniper shots, dropping mercenaries one by one. He was surrounded by his best friends, Mical, on one side and that sneaky little utility droid on the other. Up ahead, he could see Bao-Dur with his giant vibrosword, hacking through the oncoming forces. He thought maybe the old hag hadn't cared to make an appearance, but then he noticed her sitting in a corner behind the ranged fighters, meditating. What the hell?

He scanned the battle craze, starting to worry, when he saw her. Way up ahead, he couldn't actually see her, but he could see the occasional cyan flash of a lightsaber, the fluid motions of the energy blade. So she was alright.

He only had time for a few more shots before the battle was entirely over. The outer defenses had been impressively effective; many hadn't made it through his minefield. Unsurprisingly, his ex-Jedi had taken out the mercenary leader, Azkul, herself. After it was all over, he was leaning against a pillar in the administrative office, keeping his eye on her. People here didn't like Jedi after all and she'd been running around all day with a lightsaber.

The Administrator said to her, "Thank you so much for your aid. You can be sure that Dantooine will not forget how the Jedi protected us from the threat."

The Jedi? There was just one, and she's not even a Jedi if you ask her. What about the rest of us, he thought.

In her typical fashion, his friend said, "I was happy to help," and would accept no reward. The old troll, Vrook, ushered her out after that, and it was clear it was a Jedi thing, of which he was not invited to, so he headed back to the ship.

Sitting down in his pilot's seat, he started to get comfortable. He was fiddling with the controls like he liked to do when she plopped down beside in the co-pilot's chair.

"So, ready for Nar Shaddaa?" she asked.

"Hell yes."

He already had the coordinates entered.


	17. Known to Happen

She sat with Atton in the cockpit for a while. They played pazaak, he made sarcastic remarks, it was just like before they'd landed on Dantooine. She didn't know what had been wrong, but it seemed like something had come between them during their stay there.

She liked her crew. Even Kreia she thought mostly meant well. Visas was proving to be a kind and thoughtful girl, if very misguided. Bao-Dur had this amazing calming influence over them all, a reasonable center in the chaos that surrounded her. But Atton... Atton was something else. She didn't know what, but she kept coming back to him, for advice, for reassurance, even for entertainment. She'd been alone in the Outer Rim for so long. He was the closest thing she'd had to a friend in all that time, she was glad to have him.

After a while though, she had to venture out of the cockpit and visit the other ship stations. She spoke for a while with Mical about the Republic and he told her some of his travels. He wanted her to train him in the ways of the Jedi. She didn't know if she was really qualified for that. He would have kept talking the whole way to Nar Shaddaa, but she had others to check in with so she finally left him in the medical bay and continued making the rounds.

Bao-Dur seemed distracted by his repairs and Visas by her meditation. She knew Kreia would want to talk to her, but she wasn't sure she wanted to hear what the old woman had to say. Kreia was unhappy with the events on Dantooine, she could tell. The older woman always thought she put herself needlessly in danger for others; Kreia felt it was easier to mold events from a safe distance.

So in the end, it was T3 she found herself with, an open circuit hatch in front of her and a micropoint in her right hand. There was still something funny about these behavior blocks, she thought, as she worked on repairs for her droid friend. She wasn't sure what exactly she did, she had sort of zoned out for a few minutes... At least, she thought it was just a few minutes. Whatever it was, she found the anomaly. She wasn't sure what this block might unleash, so she thought it would be prudent to not be alone. She rushed into the cockpit, the utility droid following behind.

She said, "I think T3 has something!"

"Something?" Atton asked suspiciously. "What, like a virus?"

"Hang on," she said, bending down to unlock the final block in T3's behavior core.

The droid suddenly projected a hologram of a man. She gasped.

"That's the Admiral we saw in the briefs on the _Harbinger_. Admiral Onasi..." she said.

She remembered this Admiral had been the one asking questions about her. The hologram started to speak.

"T3, there's not much time – I've seen that expression on her face before. Now I don't know where she's going, but it's dangerous," the hologram said.

Atton asked, "This guy a friend of yours?"

She smirked as the recording continued.

"She's going to leave without telling me – I don't know why, but there's a chance that she'll take you. If she does, I need you to watch out for her."

The hologram kept going, "She's strong, but she can't face everything alone."

"Do what you can, T3 – if she doesn't make it back, then I need you to come back, find help. If not me, then other Jedi, the Republic..."

_Other_ Jedi? Could Onasi be talking about whoever had possession the _Ebon Hawk_ before them?

"I can't lose her, even if she wants to be lost."

The hologram disappeared and the droid started to beep. She looked up and noticed Atton staring at her.

"What?" she asked.

He looked at her for another long second before saying, "It sounds like this Admiral was more than a friend of hers, whoever she was."

"Maybe," she said, unsure. "But he said Jedi."

Atton made a face and said, "It's been known to happen."

She turned her attention back to the droid, "So, who is she, T3?"

There was a low whine followed by some clicks.

"Well," she said pointedly, "it sounds like your _friend_ needs help."

She turned back to Atton, "He won't tell me anything, but if she was a Jedi, she might be whoever had the _Ebon Hawk_ before us."

"Maybe we can just ask the Admiral who had this ship."

Atton snickered, "Yeah, if we just happen to run into this Admiral of the Republic we'll be sure to ask... I don't figure he meant for anyone else to see that message either, if it took you so long to find."

"But we could help her if we knew who and where she was. I bet he'd appreciate that."

Atton sighed and sat back down in the pilot's seat.

"I'm sure you'll find plenty of people to help on Nar Shaddaa," he said. "You should go get some sleep before we get there, it's been a big day."

She remembered then that the battle on Dantooine had happened only hours before. It seemed like more time had passed. She should get some sleep. As she plopped down in the co-pilot's seat and leaned back, she could feel Atton's sideways glance.

Closing her eyes she said, "Visas' meditating can be distracting."

When she woke up many hours later, they were already in Hutt Space.

Atton said, "You know, you snore pretty loud for a girl."

"And good morning to you," she said.

"I guess you could call it that," said Atton.

The 'Glorious Jewel', planet Nal Hutta, radioactive glowing Hutt capital of the galaxy, had just come into view. That meant they'd be landing on Nar Shaddaa, its most popular moon, momentarily. She readied herself for landing.

The satellite they landed on was a large gray rock, covered in towering buildings and brimming with corruption. Once they were all assembled on a dock of the busy metropolitan cesspool, known as the smuggler's moon by most and the vertical city by the local inhabitants, practically everyone had something to say.

"Ah... the beautiful stench of decay and desperate living," Atton said sarcastically.

"This moon..." said Kreia. "It teems with life. It is difficult to center oneself."

"Then maybe you should stay on the ship and meditate," said Atton.

Visas said, "Never have I been to a place so alive with the Force, yet so dead of it."

She didn't know what Visas meant by that, but the Force felt strange to her too.

"Welcome to Nar Shaddaa," drawled Atton. "Towering buildings kilometers high and miles deep, with canyons so wide you could have a dogfight in them."

Looking at him, she said, "You sound like you've been here before."

He shrugged. "Anyone flying the star lanes has docked on Nar Shaddaa at least once."

Looking back at the round, open docking bay at the top of one of those kilometer high skyscrapers, the ship looked rather small.

"The _Ebon Hawk_ looks a little exposed," she said.

"Maybe a little," Atton said. "But it means we didn't have to transmit our ID signature, and you know what trouble that always brings."

She couldn't argue with that, they did seem to get shot down a lot.

"T3, Atton, you're with me," she said. "Everyone else, free time. Try not to get into any trouble."

"You can't take that sneaky little tin can with us!" Atton said.

She smiled at him and said, "Consider it a team building exercise."

"I think I should come, Master," said Mical. "You could have need for me."

"She's not your Master, Pretty Boy. She's not even a Jedi," said Atton.

Ignoring Atton, she turned to Mical, "I need someone to stay and guard the ship. Bao-Dur can be trusted implicitly, but he's just a tech."

The Disciple nodded solemnly and headed back to the _Ebon Hawk_.

Kreia said, "Leave the droid and the fool, there is something I sense I must show you."

"I'll leave the droid," she said skeptically. "But the fool is coming with us, he seems to know this moon."

"Maybe this fool had other plans!" Atton's tone was angry.

"Did you?" she asked, worried.

His knowledge would be useful, but she hadn't considered he might have people to see on this moon. A girl maybe, he seemed to be good with those. She shouldn't stand in his way, but what if she needed his help? She was perplexed.

"No!" he snapped. "I'll come. I have nothing better to do than take a walk with you and the old witch here."

Kreia had already made it halfway down the long bridge from the dock leading into the city and she moved to follow. She got a little close to the edge, and looked down. That was a long way down. A long, long way down. She stepped back, lightheaded, bumping right into Atton.

Catching her, he said, "Word of warning – watch your step or you could fall for hours."

She nodded.

When she was standing upright again, he said, "Uh, where are we headed exactly?"

"No idea," she said, moving in the direction Kreia had gone.

Who knew the old woman could move so fast? She had already lost her, so she just hoped she'd come across her soon. There were an awful lot of beggars in this city, and she couldn't keep from doing what she could for each of them. She was aware of Kreia's disapproval through the Force bond and Atton's vocal disapproval anytime she handed out credits.

In the storage room of the Swoop Garage, she and Atton found a blaster with the name Onasi engraved on the handle.

Atton said, "What are the odds of that happening?"

"Obviously, the Force was involved."

The kindly old Sullustan who ran the place had been very generous; he had told them to help themselves to anything they thought would need, so she handed it over to Atton.

"Want it?" she asked. "Looks like it's better than the one you've been using."

He held it aloft, playing with the weight for a moment and then said, "Yeah, I guess. Still think it's weird though."

He was very skilled with those blasters, but she imagined for a moment him standing in front of her with a lightsaber in his hand. It was a handsome sight. She wasn't sure what had made her think of that, she'd known since first meeting him that he was Force sensitive, of course, but he seemed to have such a low opinion of the Jedi she had never thought it appropriate to bring up.

Her trail of thought was suddenly jerked to the present when Kreia came into view, standing in front of the railing of a giant metropolitan cavern that may or may not lead all the way down the ground kilometers below. She started to walk up to her, but then there was a buzzing in her ears. She continued advancing, but the closer she got to the old woman, the louder the buzzing became.

"Your thoughts are disturbed," said Kreia. "I can feel them, like a shiver running through you."

Atton had leaned against the railing, off to one side, but he was glaring openly at the older woman.

She replied, "I... I feel this background noise, like a vibration."

"It is Nar Shaddaa, the true Nar Shaddaa, that you feel around you," said Kreia. "It is this moon, with the metal and the machines stripped away and the currents of the Force laid bare."

She could feel it coursing through her, fast and frantic. It was almost frightening.

"I am surprised you can feel it," said Kreia's voice, this time in her head. "I feared the damage to you had deadened you to such perceptions…"

Kreia's mouth still did not move as she continued her lecture, "What you feel is the echo of the minds of those creatures within the Force. Their anger... their greed... their desperation. It is life.

And then it was louder. Everything was. The Force itself was. It was closer and it was louder and it was more present than it had ever been at any point in her life before. She breathed a sigh of relief. It was really back.

"Thank you, Kreia," she said. "I can hear the Force much clearer now."

The old woman merely harrumphed and stalked off back in the direction of the_ Ebon Hawk_. She smiled awkwardly at Atton, hoping that whatever had been wrong on Dantooine was really and truly over. Not sure what her next plan of action was actually, she walked over to him and leaned against the railing alongside him. She tried not looking down.

Atton said, "I think it's time for a drink."

"That's not really going to help us find a Jedi Master," she said.

Atton grabbed her by the arm, pulling her towards the Entertainment Promenade.

"Trust me."


	18. Beating the Odds

She allowed herself to be pulled through the sliding doors, noticing Atton looking behind them suspiciously, but she turned and saw nothing of interest. When they entered the Promenade, she saw there were two forms of entertainment available in this sector, a cantina and a pazaak den.

She started to head towards the cantina when he stopped her, saying, "Business before pleasure."

At the door to the pazaak den, Atton had no luck convincing the bouncer to let them in. Not knowing what else to do, she used her mind trick on him.

"I can go in," she said, waving her hand in front of the bouncer's eyes.

"You… can go in," he said with some difficulty, unlocking the door.

Atton was eying her warily as they walked into the club. He probably thought poorly of her for doing that, he didn't approve of Jedi mind invasions.

All he said was, "Well, that's one way to do it."

He walked over to the bar and started to talk to the bartender. She waited for a moment, but then grew bored and wandered off to one side, where a droid with a sweet sounding woman's voice struck up a conversation with her.

"Oh! Hello!" said an S4 protocol droid. "You have caught me at a rare time. Usually there are many players who seek to play, but you are fortunate to have caught me at a rare moment of quiet."

"Why so many players?" she asked the droid.

"I fear it is because I am simply not a skilled pazaak player. I am afraid protocol droid skills and language interpretation are not something that lend themselves to pazaak and probability," said the pretty metallic voice.

"So why do you play?"

"Why, I cannot help myself," said the droid. "In fact, every time I seek to find the answer to that question, I am consumed with the need to come here and play pazaak."

That sounded like faulty programming to her and she offered to fix it.

"I am not sure I wish it fixed," said the protocol droid. "I do find some degree of satisfaction in playing. Would you like to play?"

"Yeah," said Atton, startling her.

She hadn't realized he had walked up behind her.

"Maybe if the droid's not very good, there's credits to be made here," he said. "Maybe even you could beat her."

"Oh, most certainly, sir," said the hyper-feminine voice. "I am quite the mark, as it were."

"This poor droid has obviously been tampered with, Atton. We have to help."

Turning back to the gambling-addicted droid, she said, "Let's just open you up and take a look."

She was right, the droid had been tampered with, but it was easy to correct the malfunction. It was good she had fixed it too; it could have caused long term memory core damage if left unresolved.

When she closed up the S4, the droid said, "Oh! That feels much better. I cannot believe I went on and on about such a foolish game. Thank you, truly, thank you!"

As they headed off to find another match, she heard Atton grumbling, "It's_ not_ a foolish game."

The next pazaak player they came across was a Twi'lek woman, of negligent clothing.

As she approached, the Twi'lek said, "What do you want?"

"I just want to play some pazaak," she said.

Atton pushed her aside, saying, "I think maybe you should let me... handle... this one."

He was certainly the more proficient pazaak player, so that seemed the best course. She watched as he led the Twi'lek off to a dark corner table. Pazaak cards came out, but the woman seemed more interested in Atton than in her hand. The woman was leaning into him, and he was grinning back at her. He must have said something funny; the Twi'lek threw her head back with laughter.

This must be what flirting looks like, she thought. She had never flirted, or seen people flirting before that she knew of. It had certainly been frowned upon in the Order, leading to attachments and emotions that could cause one to fall to the Dark Side. Not that it always helped, Atton had been right, Jedi did sometimes become attached.

The Twi'lek was still leaning over the cards, in Atton's personal space. She saw the Twi'lek kiss Atton on the cheek, putting her arm around him proprietorially. Something was bothering her, but she didn't understand what it was; she headed for the bar. She hadn't had a drink since the Outer Rim, so she ordered a juma juice.

She held no illusions to whether Atton's interests in her extended beyond wanting to see her in her underwear again, but she found she didn't like what was going on at the corner table just the same. She was on her third juma juice when Atton and his new friend sidled up beside her.

"That was... magnificent," said the Twi'lek. "Thank you for such a stimulating game..."

After the Twi'lek had walked away, she said flatly, "I hope that didn't put you out too much."

"Nah," said Atton, watching the woman walk away. "She was easy."

"I noticed."

He grinned wickedly and said, "Jealous?"

"You wish," she muttered over her drink.

He then noticed what she held in her hand and looked more closely at her.

"You're drunk!" he said in surprise.

"Not hardly," she _may_ have slurred.

Was she drunk? Surely not. She picked up her drink and headed to find another pazaak player. She marched right up to the first alien she came across.

He said, "Searching for a game, hu-man, hmmmn? Must be willing to lose if you play, no time for great human upsets and accusations, very troubling, very upsetting."

Before Atton could stop her, she said, "Fine. Let's play."

What happened next surprised even her. She quickly wiped the floor with this alien, as Atton watched shocked from the sidelines. She had all the right cards and her competition had none. She silently thanked her competitive streak that had been quietly collecting cards in every port in the hopes she'd one day beat Atton. It was over before she knew it. Her opponent hadn't won a single round.

When she had exchanged pleasantries and collected her credits, she turned to Atton, who was watching on in disbelief.

"What was that?" he asked.

She beamed delightedly.

"The Force is with me," she said.

As they headed to the door, having earned enough credits for one night, she walked right into an alien. She hadn't noticed him come through the door because he was a tiny rodent alien.

"You are big stuff, no?" said the diminutive newcomer.

"Compared to you," she popped back, "my boot is big stuff."

The overconfident little Chadra-Fan challenged her to a pazaak match and she was about to accept when Atton grabbed her by the arm and steered her over to the dark corner table. He sat her down in one of the chairs and he took the other. He leaned in, put his hand on her arm, like she'd seen the Twi'lek do to him just a short while before. She laughed.

Was this flirting? The thought was alarming. But his hand was on her arm and she was suddenly noticing how loud it was in the club and also, she was having trouble focusing. She was holding onto his hand where it rested on her arm. When had she done that? He was laughing, had she said something funny?

"Stay right here," he was saying. "I'm going to go beat that mouthy rodent."

As she watched him play the alien, she wondered to herself when this had happened. How had things gone so off course? She knew better than to develop feelings for someone, she remembered well what had happened last time. Not that anything had actually happened last time, but that hadn't kept her from getting hurt.

She liked watching him as he counted cards. His face held the same expression it had when she had first seen him, over the security systems on Peragus. He tried to mask his triumph, but she knew he was about to win as he plopped down the last card. After she saw him accept his winnings, she headed over to congratulate Atton. When she reached him, he grabbed her by the waist and steered her out of the pazaak den.

"Let's go to the cantina," he said. "Now I need a drink too and I don't trust the swill they serve here."

They walked the short distance between the two bars, and as they headed towards the bartender to order drinks, they passed a blue Twi'lek surrounded by dancing girls. He was berating one of them.

"She didn't look so bad to me," she said.

"Indeed," said the Twi'lek, once all the dancing girls dispersed. "She looked much worse! Never have I been subjected to a dance as that one. Disgraceful for a Twi'lek to dance like that. Vogga will be furious if I cannot find new entertainment for him."

"Who's Vogga?" she asked.

"Vogga is one of the most influential Hutts on Nar Shaddaa," said the Twi'lek recruiter.

He then started to look at her with a predatory gleam in his eye, saying thoughtfully, "But perhaps my luck is changing, look at what fate has brought me! You yourself are quite the specimen. Perhaps you would like to find work as one of Vogga's dancers?"

"I don't think so," she said in as dignified a voice as she could muster in her _slightly_ inebriated state.

She could hear Atton's laughter as she continued to the bar, but she did her best to ignore it.

She ordered another juice for herself and two for Atton, he needed to catch up. He moved up to the bar next to her, but he was looking at the exit.

"Why do you keep looking behind you since we came to Nar Shaddaa?" she asked, taking a sip of her drink.

"Someone's been following us. I haven't got a look at who, but I know they're there."

She shrugged and took another drink, saying, "All the bounty hunters in Nar Shaddaa are after me."

They walked over to a table near the windows.

"Shouldn't you be more concerned about that?" he asked.

"What's the point?" she asked. "I know they're coming. All I can do is warn those who don't. That's why we're here."

"The Jedi Order is done for, sweetheart."

"It is not!" she said. "In fact, Mical wants me to train him in the Jedi Arts again."

Atton set his drink down.

"What?"

"He's asked me to be his Master," she said. "I told him I didn't know if I could, I'm not sure I'm qualified."

"You think?" he said. "You're not even a damn Jedi."

"Well, somebody has to be!" she practically shouted. "It's not like I left by choice."

She dropped it and finished her drink in sullen silence. He headed back to the bar to get another and on the way back she heard him get berated for stepping to close to a private conversation between some Vogga thugs. She wondered what they could be discussing that was such a secret.

When he returned, she said, "Sneak up on those guys and listen in on what they're saying. If this Vogga is such an influential Hutt, let's find out what he's up to."

He sighed and took a sip of his fresh drink, set it down on the table, then flipped on his stealth generator, disappearing in front of her. She picked up his drink and helped herself while she waited.

When he returned he said, "Something's going on, alright, we need to go to Vogga's. He apparently has a horde tucked away in his complex that we need to get into."

She frowned. "Stealing?"

"Look- whatever he has stashed in there, do you want it in the hands of the Exchange."

She considered this.

"No," she said, "You're right. What's the plan?"

"Of course I'm right," he said with a smirk.

"And drink up," he added, gesturing to his drink in her hand. "You're going to hate the plan."


	19. Not a Jedi

He told her his plan while he ordered two more drinks. She hated it. But she saw the sense in it, what little she had left through all the juma juice she'd been drinking. Atton would be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying this side of his pretty ex-Jedi.

They then walked over to the Twi'lek dancer recruit and she said, "I've changed my mind."

She glared at Atton the whole time.

"Excellent," said the Twi'lek. "I'll just need you to put this on and dance a little, nothing fancy. I just need to make sure you'll pass."

"Wait," she said, her face going white. "Did you say put something on?"

Atton had to hold his breath to keep from laughing.

That was why he was here in the Docks, in Vogga's complex, while she danced around in front of him in a gold and leather bikini for a Hutt. He had insisted he was coming as a bodyguard of course, he didn't know where she'd hidden her lightsaber, but he couldn't imagine it would be easy to reach if she ran into trouble.

He tried not to watch too closely as she wiggled across the room. Okay, that was a huge lie, he was leering, but she had to expect that, right? She was now wearing even less than when he had first met her, and he was who he was. Pleasant thoughts were interrupted by a loud Hutt snore. Her womanly wiles had knocked the big smelly alien out cold.

Atton said in a loud whisper, "You see, that's what you sound like!"

She stopped dancing and turned on him, but Vogga's pet kath hounds started to growl menacingly in her general direction.

"Don't move," he said seriously.

He had to improvise. Still holding his drink, he had brought it for the show, he slowly inched his way along the wall to the watering urn in the corner and dumped the remainder of his juma juice into it. He made a low whistle and the beasts turned towards him. The ex-Jedi ran out of the room and as the kath hounds went for his drink, he switched back on his stealth field and booked it for the door. When he made it out of the room, he switched it back up, appearing in front of her.

She said, "How did you know that would work?"

Atton shrugged.

"I didn't, but the only things not knocked completely on their ass by juma juice are Jedi and me."

A minute later he heard a couple of loud thumps.

"Okay," he said. "Come on."

He led her through the sleeping Hutt's den, past the bodies of the drunken kath hounds.

When they reached the door to the cache, she brushed past him, saying, "Allow me."

Atton would have very much liked to know where she had had that security spike hidden.

Inside, they found a plethora of useful items, none of which she would want the Exchange to have. They took shields, stealth fields, stems, and then in the last storage container, they even found a lightsaber and a robe. She was looking at the last two items with distaste.

"I wonder who they killed to get these," she said.

She seemed to sober up a bit and he knew the fun was over.

"Wait here," she said, ducking behind some crates.

When she came back out, she was in her usual light armor. How does she do that, he wondered?

Her face was grim. "We need to head back to the ship, we've been gone too long."

It was a silent walk back to the ship. When they got there, everything was quiet on board, no catastrophes to see to. Bao-Dur was in his usual spot, doing whatever it was he usually did. He didn't look for Pretty Boy in the med bay, but he'd take the odds on his being there. His leader followed him to the cockpit and slumped down into the seat next to his. Obviously the drinks were wearing off.

Taking his pilot's seat, he checked all the readings and he said, "Something up?"

"Care to explain where you got your Echani training?" she asked.

His face hardened.

"Care to explain your part in Malachor V, General?" he asked.

His drunken ex-Jedi turned her back on him in the co-pilot's seat, curled up into a ball, and went to sleep. He was relieved, he wasn't sure he wanted to hear her answers any more than she would want to hear his. He decided sleeping this off wasn't such a bad idea and leaned back in his chair. He could hear her snoring as he drifted off to sleep.

When he woke up, many hours later, she was gone. Afraid he might have screwed things up the night before, he left the cockpit in search of her. She wasn't anywhere on the ship, neither were Blondie or the Miraluka. He had screwed things up badly, if she chose to take those two out into Nar Shaddaa over him.

Bao-Dur didn't know where they were, just that 'the General had taken the other Jedi off the ship'. Other Jedi. He rolled his eyes. Was he the only one on this damn ship who remembered she wasn't a Jedi? They had exiled her. Kicked her out. Didn't want her anymore.

Atton was getting pretty tired of tooling around the galaxy trying to save a dead order of busybodies. He stomped off the ship to try and save that woman from herself again. He'd just stop trying one of these times. Just slip off into the crowds on this forsaken moon, never giving a thought to this or any other Jedi again. Not that she was a Jedi.

But the other one had been. The woman who had haunted his dreams. Sometimes that remembered face appeared in his waking thoughts too. Sometimes thoughts of that woman, that other Jedi, overtook thoughts of her, his _ex_-Jedi. Sometimes his thoughts became so mixed up, he couldn't tell the differences between them anymore, the guilt would be too much. He hated himself as much as she would if she found out. If he had to kill her too, it would break him. It wasn't Kreia's words that bound him here. It was her. Atton couldn't leave her if he wanted to, and he wanted to.

And then he saw her of course, because he couldn't escape her. Call it the Force. Karma. Bad luck. He was stuck to her. She was sitting on the ground in the main square of the refugee landing pad, in the same spot Kreia had taken them to the day before, with Mical and Visas sitting around her in a similar manner. She seemed to be conducting some kind of lesson.

She had changed from her usual light armor into brown Jedi robes. He sighed. She noticed him and said something to the two she was with and gestured towards the ship. She stood up and walked over to Atton and Pretty Boy and the Miraluka headed back towards the _Ebon Hawk_.

"So – not a Jedi?

She said calmly, "We are who we are, Atton. I can keep running from that, or I can make sure I don't stay the last Jedi."

"You admit that you are one now?" he snapped. "And those two are what... your Apprentices? I thought you were just a Padawan?"

"Well, I was promoted to Knight by the end of the war," she replied stubbornly. "I know it's not ideal..."

He started back to the ship but she didn't follow. She headed off in the direction of the Refugee Sector. Knowing every bounty hunter on the moon was still after her, he turned around.

"So, where are we going, Master?"

She cringed. "Don't call me that."

Grinning, he said, "Blondie back on the ship calls you that."

"And he manages to not make it sound indecent."

They stepped into the grandeur that Nar Shaddaa housed its refugees in and were immediately accosted by two Exchange thugs who wouldn't take no for an answer. He was happy to see she hadn't lost her fighting spirit underneath all those layers of Jedi clothing. She sliced down the big one with her lightsaber while he crippled the skinny one with Onasi's blaster.

In the refugee area, he stayed out of the way as she healed a man of a virulent disease. When she knelt down beside the sick man, Atton saw a swirling glow. He thought he heard something, but the sound was quiet and just out of range and then it was gone. She agreed to help a woman get her daughter back from the Exchange, she had been taken into slavery as repayment for a defaulted loan. There was a woman trying to find her family, another trying to get off Nar Shaddaa, a hapless pilot looking for a ship. She agreed to help them all.

He stood back as she convinced a retired veteran mercenary unit _and_ the Exchange to ease off of the refugees, and have them personally deliver the little girl back to her mother. She was currently talking to a pair of Twi'leks and he was making himself scarce, figuring it was easier to maintain a low profile that way. She attracted a lot of attention in a place like this. Actually, she attracted a lot of attention anywhere. And she certainly stuck her nose in everybody's business like a Jedi.

When she returned, she gave him one of those searching looks she was so good at, the kind that made him feel like she could see right through him. He looked past her at the Twi'lek men she had been talking to. They were staring his direction and whispering to each other. Then she abruptly turned and headed out of the Refugee district. He cast another look in the direction of the Twi'lek pair, but was pretty sure he didn't know them.

They found a busted up old airspeeder and she easily put the thing back together with parts she just happened to be carrying around. After she got the thing running, she started to mess with the airspeeder's controls and he stopped her. This was one area where she actually didn't know what she was doing.

"Hey," he said. "Let me take care of that for ya."

"All right," she said, moving out of the way. "I'll let the expert handle this."

"Expert. I like the sound of that," said Atton.

Climbing in the airspeeder through the window, he set to work on the security console. It didn't take long to have it fixed up and he popped his head back up above the dash, grinning like a fool at the woman in the brown Jedi robes.

"Hop in," he said. "Let's see what she can do."

She did and they sped off. It was a fun little vehicle, zipping between skyscrapers. Fast and agile for such a beat up pile of junk. Atton would have liked a chance to really put it through the paces, but he'd had a bad feeling brewing since he'd seen her talking to those Twi'lek down in the refugee sector and he wanted to get back to the ship.

When he landed them in the Swoop Gallery, their ship was in clear sight and looked to be fine. He told himself his worries were for nothing, but they found themselves hurrying just the same. Before they even made it to the ship, they ran into trouble. Some Red Eclipse slavers stopped them; apparently the _Ebon Hawk_ had parked in their space.

Reason or credits couldn't divert their alien adversaries, so out came the blasters. As soon as his leader noticed what he'd done, her lightsaber lit up and she advanced. He saw she now had a second, smaller lightsaber in her off hand. This new one glowed yellow, it must be the one they found at Vogga's. She twirled and spun in her deadly dance, with yellow and cyan flashing around her, slicing opponents in half easily as she glided through the motions. It was hard not to get caught up watching her. He shot down another of the oncoming aliens just before it could take a swing at her with its sword.

They had to fight through several waves of them to get to the ship, and then there were more slavers on the interior of the ship. She was quickly surrounded in the garage area; Bao-Dur was nowhere to be seen. Then all her attackers froze, in a stasis field that must have covered the entire room. He'd seen other Jedi use it before, but this was the first time he'd seen her do it. He easily shot them down while they were frozen in place.

As Atton and his ex-Jedi took on what must be an entire slaving ring, he wondered angrily where in the hell rest of the crew was. He wasn't so bad off, but he could see from the cuts in her robes that she had taken some damage. Suddenly, he saw that same spiraling light surround both of them and he could feel his injuries lessen. He looked across their attackers at her, surprised. She cast a quick smile at him before she swung her lightsaber at another Red Eclipse thug.

"You're just full of new tricks today, aren't you?" he called over to her.

"You think that's something," she said, dropping another alien, "watch this."

With that, she raised her hand in the direction of one of the slavers. The alien was lifted off the ground and spun around in a circle. He'd seen lesser variations of that power, but the spinning was new and he laughed. She winked at him from across the skirmish and with a wave her hand, threw the disoriented slaver across the garage with a Force push. Whatever the old woman had done to her on the landing pad the day before must have helped.

Once all the Red Eclipse had been taken care of, their crew showed back up, all at once. Visas and Mical had found somewhere in the city to spar and had been practicing lightsaber stances. Bao-Dur had tracked down a droid repair shop so he could do some upgrades on his remote. Kreia offered no explanation to her whereabouts, merely surveyed the resulting carnage with an air of disapproval and huffed off back to her lair in the port dorm.

The only one not accounted for was the astromec and Atton had his suspicions that that was who had invited the slavers on board in the first place. But right when he was starting to get comfortable, the ship received an incoming message on the commlink with the T3's security codes. He caught his ex-Jedi just as she started to sneak off down the walkway again, alone, and on her way to who knew where.

"We just received a message," he said to her. "I think this is something everyone will want to hear."


	20. A Trap

Once they were all assembled on the docking bay, the T3 projected the holographic message.

"Welcome Jedi – I regret this message has taken so long in reaching you, but I only recently became aware of your presence on Nar Shaddaa," said the alien hologram. "I am Visquis, a representative of an... exchange of shipping interests here on the smuggler's moon."

Atton knew who the man was. Visquis was the Exchange boss here on Nar Shaddaa. Like all Quarrens, Visquis had leathery pink skin and tentacles dangling from his face. Atton never like Quarrens much. He knew the crimelord answered directly to Goto, one of the biggest Exchange players in the whole galaxy. He especially didn't like that Visquis was contacting them now. The message went on.

"I am extending an invitation to you to join me in my private lounge within the Jekk'Jekk Tarr, where we may speak without being disturbed. I wish to discuss something of mutual interest concerning your past profession – and prospects for the future."

The Jekk'Jekk Tarr was a cantina in the docks that catered to aliens. They pumped poisonous gas that simulates their home planet environments into the place. Those gases were toxic to humans, poisoning their lungs and burning their skin.

The holographic crimelord added, "Oh, and do come alone – one human in my presence is enough."

Hologram Visquis flickered out.

"Well," said Atton sarcastically. "Good thing it's not a trap."

The idiot disciple said, "No, Atton, I think it may be a trap!"

He looked at the blond man, dumbfounded. "Could you please lighten up for one second?"

"It could be a trap," said Kreia, turning to the young woman in the brown robes. "But traps work both ways. The choice is yours, you will have to go alone."

"You can't actually think she should do that," said Atton. "It's suicide."

"Where is the Jekk'Jekk Tarr?" she asked.

He stepped closer to her. "It's just off the docks, near one of the traffic pylons. He's got you at a disadvantage there, though. The place is filled with cyanogen gas. One whiff of that and it'll be the last breath you take. You'll need something to allow you to breath there, and disguise you from the other patrons."

She grinned at him. "Good thing I still have that sexy space suit from Peragus, then."

"I wouldn't call it that," he said, scrunching up his face. "But seriously, you can't really go by yourself."

"You saw the message too," she said. "I have to find this guy, if anyone knows where a Jedi might be hiding, it's him. Besides, there's only one space suit."

He sighed. "Then all you'll have to worry about is the patrons not finding out that you're a human and gunning you down. And the fact that this is a trap. You do know that this is a trap, right?"

She nodded. "I know."

"Look," he said. "Just be careful – this whole situation stinks."

"Like the gas, I know." She stepped back and said to the whole group, "Looks like I'm off to meet the Exchange, then."

"Well," said Atton, looking around. "I wouldn't keep him waiting. If you got his attention, you probably attracted the attention of someone else."

She nodded again and waving, turned around and headed away from the ship.

She was a Jedi again and she was walking into a death trap. That should clear him of any further obligations easily enough. Now was as good a time as ever to hit the road running. He really needed to get away from this crowd. He noticed he'd walked off the dock and was following after his pretty friend.

When he caught up to her, he said, "Hey – look, I wanted to tell you, be careful."

She was looking at him questioningly. "Didn't you already tell me that?" she asked.

"Yeah..." he said awkwardly. "But I won't be able to contact you via the comlink if something happens, and I'm betting that squid-head knows it."

"You didn't follow me out here just to warn me of that," she said.

He scowled. "Look, take these – they're healing packs. If your suit gets breached, you'll need to inject them fast if you don't want your lungs to seize up."

When she reached for the med packs, he grabbed her hand and pulled her into a tight embrace. This time she did put her head on his shoulder. They stood like that for a few moments.

He said into her hair, "And trust me – once the seizures start, you'll be dead."

He reluctantly let her go. She was staring at him with wide eyes.

"That's comforting," she said. "All right, thanks."

She fidgeted with the med packs in her hands.

"Watch yourself," he said, watching her turn away. "And don't be too long. I'll keep an eye out from here until you return."

He turned away himself then saying, "And I know just the place."

He headed for the cantina they had spent the night before in. His mind was still back at the docks, with her, as he headed up to the bar.

"Well," he said loudly. "This sure beats staying on the ship. A few drinks to keep me on my toes, a few games of pazaak to keep the mind alert..."

The pair of Twi'lek who had been following him moved in closer.

He went on, "...should be enough to keep me out of trouble until our fearless leader straightens things out."

He said to the bartender, "Give me a juma, and keep them coming."

When he had the drink, he turned to face his scantily clad stalkers. He eyed them appraisingly.

"Well," he said over his glass. "Looks like staying on the ship was a bad idea after all. So... I don't think I caught your names. Uh, do you two work here, or...?"

Half-naked Twi'lek Number One said, "We are dancers, yes."

Her near-twin said with an air of finality, "Slaves once, now no more."

He thought back to earnest Ramana, the slave girl they had helped back on Citadel Station. These ladies didn't seem the type.

"Yeah?" he said. "What happened to your Master?"

Twi'lek One said indifferently, "He was made deceased. We serve no one... but ourselves."

"And you, of course," the other intoned. "Tell us... why have you come to the smuggler's moon?"

The first said coquettishly, "Perhaps you are looking for something... perhaps us?"

"No, actually I'm here protecting someone. Keeping them out of trouble – by acting as a distraction for people looking to harm her."

"Harm her?" one of them asked. "Do you think we are assassins?"

"We are not assassins," said the other with distaste. "Assassins kill for money. That is not what _we_ do."

And again the other Twi'lek chimed in, her voice coaxing. "We only wish the exile – submit, or else we shall kill you and find other bait."

Taking a long swig, he finished off the drink in his hand, plopping it down on the bar behind him before pulling out his new blaster with the Admiral's name on it.

He said, "Why don't you two schuttas try it, and we'll see what happens?"

In perfect synchronization, the pair of Twi'leks rolled backwards, landing in combat stances. Each pulled out two long metal blades. Flipping on the Mandalorian melee shield his pretty friend had insisted he carry on him, he took two quick sniper shots at Twi'lek Dancer One and tossed a frag grenade in their direction before they could start to advance. He then pulled out an Echani blade that his friend had also found for him in Atris' lair, glad he had brought it along, and lunged at the already damaged attacker when she came close.

He crouched low, ready for the next attack. A blade came in close from Twi'lek Attacker Number Two and he feinted, swiping low at her heel in the process. She went down with a thud. Once both of the bounty hunting ladies were down, he cleaned his blade, sheathed it away and ordered another drink.

"If the bounty hunters are moving in," he said to no one, "this place is going to get real bad, real quick."

Sighing, he put the drink down and said, "I better get back to the ship and warn the others."

He didn't know where the thought had come from, but he found himself following his own order just the same. When he got back to the landing pad, the crew of the _Ebon Hawk_ was still assembled out front, bickering amongst themselves and worrying over their leader.

Visas was saying, "I don't know why a Jedi would come here. There is so much noise on this moon."

"Of course. It makes detecting a Jedi difficult." The old lady, of course.

"But to be in a place where one drowns in the force," Visas went on. "Why would a Jedi wish that?"

"A simple question," said the old woman. "To which I ask another – why should a Jedi want to hide?"

This was getting them nowhere. Someone had to take charge.

"Hey," he said loudly. "We need to move out."

"What are you talking about?" said the Jedi Disciple. "What is wrong?"

Atton said, "The bounty hunters are coming. All of them. A trap in the Jekk'Jekk Tarr is bad enough, but having a hundred bounty hunters on your back is something else."

Kreia interjected, "She was told to meet alone. We cannot disrupt their meeting until the alien reveals the information he has."

"Look," said Atton. "We need to move. They're coming after us, not her."

Blondie spoke with concern in his voice, "If they are coming after us, then they will be after her as well. We need to go and rescue her."

Atton sighed. He knew that was true, but he also knew he couldn't do that right now. And that was really throwing him off his game. He ran his hands through his hair worriedly. Then he looked past the Disciple and saw a team of Duros moving in. The bounty hunters had arrived.

"Yeah..." he said. "You're right. But I'm guessing we're in a lot more trouble than she is."

"Ah... look," said one of the aliens. Like all Duros, he had a blue oblong face and red teardrop shaped eyes. "Refugees. Here. On the landing pad. Are you lost?"

Receiving no response, the Duros continued his babble. "Or perhaps you have lost your criminal Jedi exile leader perhaps that is more likely, yes, very."

"Anybody catch that?" said Atton to the group. "All I understood was 'very'."

Bao-Dur said in a mild voice, "I think he wanted us to give up the General to his poorly-trained collection of bounty hunters."

"Ah," he said. "Well that would explain it. Which one do you want?"

Bao-Dur hefted up his vibrosword saying, "I'll take the stupid one who decided to threaten us rather than shoot us when he had the chance."

And then the battle was begun.


	21. Missed the Mark

The young bounty hunter lay on the ground in the center of an arena of some sort, probably used for slave fights. She looked around herself, careful not to move, peeking out through cropped red hair that had fallen across her face. She was starting to wish she had never taken this job.

She had bungled things badly. So badly in fact, she wasn't sure what her next move should be, and that almost never happened. She liked to be a few steps ahead of the game. Mira noted the weight on her forearm; at least they hadn't taken her rocket launcher. She could just make out her captors in the glass observation deck above. She thought back on the events that had led her here.

Zez-Kai Ell, the only Jedi Master she knew of, had hired her to protect the Jedi exile. She had done that by luring the woman back to her hideout and taking her out of the equation with a prepared cocktail of knockout gas. Too bad for the Jedi exile, the woman didn't wear nasal inhibitors like Mira herself did. She left her sleeping like a baby, borrowed her space suit, and headed off to make that appointment on the sleeping exile's behalf.

She had infiltrated the bar easily enough, mingling her way into the Exchange's inner lair. She should have known Hanharr would be there. That sociopathic Wookie had been hunting her for years... ever since she'd been stupid enough to save him. Stupid life debt. Twisted Wookie logic. But she wasn't going to worry about the sad life that had made him the monster he was, what she needed to worry about was how to get out of her current predicament.

Mira pushed herself up from the ground, checking her pockets to make sure all of her weapons and demolition charges were still safely in place. The Quarren Exchange leader, Visquis, stepped up to the glass. She could see the giant outline of a Wookie in the background.

"Ah, Mira," said the squid-head from the glass box. "I am pleased that my traps did not cause any permanent scarring. It turns out your Jedi friend has decided to come here anyway, in search of you. How touching."

Crap, the Jedi was coming here. She really had blown the job.

"I believe that you know this one," said Visquis as Hanharr stepped up beside him. "As he knows you."

Mira knew it wasn't going to be easy to get out of this one.

The Exchange leader said, "Hanharr, I have heard tales of how you have ripped humans in half. Indulge me."

Hanharr _had_ ripped a few poor marks in half, Mira had seen it done. She wasn't about to let it happen to her though. While she waited for him to arrive in the arena, she pulled her modded out static blaster from her mesh jacket, giving it a once over.

The massive Wookie stepped into the ring, his hate tangible. Covered in brown fur and heavy weaponry, Hanharr stood over two meters tall. Mira had heard Wookies came from Kashyyyk, some planet covered in giant trees that soared to unimaginable heights, and that the Wookies there were the honorable caretakers of the forests. She didn't know anything about that, she'd never been there. But she did know Hanharr, and she knew he wanted her dead.

"Here, we are far from the eyes of other bounty hunters. Now, my life debt is ended," the Wookie roared in his alien tongue.

"That does it Hanharr," she growled back at him. "I don't want to kill you, but I will if you don't get out of my way."

"Your threats mean nothing to me, little girl."

She activated a shield at the same moment she fired her first blaster bolt. Her rapid shots hit him three times in the side and shoulder before he could reach her with his dual swords raised. She was ready for his attack, ducked low into a roll and quickly fired two more shots as soon as she stuck her landing. He came at her again but she was no longer there, darting lightly over the mines scattered around the arena, so delicately they weren't set off.

As he aggressively trailed behind her, he crossed over the mines with slightly less finesse, blasting himself with shrapnel and poisonous gases in the process. Mira led him on a merry chase over those mines, one by one as she circled the arena, stopping briefly to take a shot whenever she saw an opening. Bit by bit, she etched away at Hanharr's stamina until he was weakened and then finally brought down. When he fell, she felt no joy in the win, if it could be called that. She was just tired of looking over her shoulder all the time.

In case his bounty hunter had been unsuccessful, Visquis had also released the hounds. Kath hounds to be specific. Now that Hanharr was out of the equation, they moved in for the attack. With no more mines to employ, she punched a button on her wristband and blasted a rocket into the center of the pack, turning her body to shield herself from the explosion. She then took aim at the nearest alien hound and started shooting. She took down six of them before she could finally leave the pit.

Visquis' hideout was crawling with Ubese bounty hunters. A pair of them, decked out in black armor from head to toe and sporting double-bladed swords came at her as soon as she made her way out of the arena. She made short work of those two and then flipped on the stealth field generator on her belt, so she could slip easily past the next few rooms undetected. She meant to avoid further bloodshed if at all possible.

What Mira needed was a way out of this place and she found one not far away in the form of an escape hatch and emergency tunnel controls. According to a nearby terminal, Mira could unlock the tunnels leading from the Jekk'Jekk Tarr, but she couldn't enter them from her location. Unfortunately, if the Jedi exile was headed here, that's probably the path she was taking.

She couldn't see a way out for the exile, not now. Goto was surely on his way here already to collect her, and he'd eliminate his competition, namely Visquis, while he was at it. She could at least open the front door for her, but Mira would have to take the only other way out of the underground den, an emergency escape route. She hated to leave the exile to face the Exchange on her own, but she knew the Jedi hadn't come to Nar Shaddaa alone, maybe Mira could find the woman's friends.

There was no other choice, she unlocked the lower tunnels, knowing that was all she could do for the exile. Hoping that would be enough, she activated the emergency escape route. When she did, an alarm went off. Visquis' lackeys would realize what she'd done soon enough, Mira had to hurry. She switched back on her stealth generator and ducked into the emergency tunnels.

The tunnels led out to the docks and first she found Zez-Kai Ell to let him know what had happened.

"Your friend has been captured by Goto," she said. There was no need to mince words at this point.

The Jedi regarded her coolly. It reminded her of when she was little and a teacher or her mother had caught her in the act of something. Back before the wars, back before everything had gone wrong. She felt her face transform into a scowl.

All the Jedi Master said was, "You will need help to get her back?"

He phrased it as a question, but she saw it for what it was. Getting the exile back now seemed like a hopeless task to her, but if Mira didn't hand her over to the Jedi Master, she wouldn't be paid for this job, and that she could not allow to happen. She tried to suppress a sigh as she messaged the exile's ship.

A half hour later she was sitting on a crate in the same storage container she had first cornered the exile in, waiting for someone from the _Ebon Hawk's_ crew to show up. When she saw the doors slide open, she bounced up, ready for whoever it might be.

It was the brown haired man she'd seen the exile with a few times while she was hunting her. He was cuter close up.

"Uh, you're running a little late," she said. "Your friend already walked into a trap in the Jekk'Jekk Tarr."

The man's face grew dark. "What did you do with her?"

"It wasn't me," Mira said quickly. "...Exactly."

"What exactly happened and who exactly are you?" he asked.

"I'm Mira," she said. "I'm the best bounty hunter in this system, and that's not me bragging, that's fact. I had you in my sights ever since you landed."

"So you sold her to who?" he said angrily.

"You got it all wrong. I was paid to protect her," said Mira. "Visquis isn't a problem anymore, Goto will have taken him out by now, but he'll have her, he'll be taking her to his ship... and that means no bounty for me."

"You call yourself the best bounty hunter on this moon?" His face grew even darker as he said, "Then how do I get her back?"

Mira bit back a retort, she didn't want to have to shoot the guy; he was obviously hung up on the exile. That seemed like a waste, a good-looking guy like that stuck on a woman who probably would never return the sentiment.

Anyhow, she said, "No one knows how to reach Goto except Visquis, and that squid-head will have died beneath the Jekk'Jekk Tarr."

He asked, "How does Goto hide his ship?"

"He's got a cloaking device. He's the only one that arranges the meetings on his ship, and until then, he can't be found. Trust me, if anyone knew how to track his ship, he'd have every bounty hunter and criminal on Narr Shaddaa gunning for it."

"There's gotta be a way. I'll hit orbit and start hunting," he said.

She laughed. "If you were hunting for Goto's yacht, your freighter would be flying blind... well, unless it was one of Vogga's cargo ships, then it would be snapped up by Goto pretty quick."

"Why would that matter?" he asked.

"Goto's been preying on Vogga's freighters for a while now – it's the reason Vogga's had to haul his bulk up here to Nar Shaddaa from Nal Hutta," she explained. "Even with all the traffic around Nar Shaddaa, Goto seems to always know which ones are Vogga's, and his ship just snatches them up."

"How would he know that?"

Mira shrugged. "Probably does it by tracking their transponder codes, but no one knows how he's getting them."

"How would we get the codes?" said Atton.

She thought about it for a second.

"Well, it's not just getting any codes – it's the one for Vogga's freighters, and those are stored in the droid warehouse. Problem is, Vogga's shut down the droid warehouse until he can find who's been leaking the codes. You'd have to be a droid to get in there."

He started to stalk out of the room and she had to race to keep up.

"What are you going to do?" Mira asked as they headed off towards the docks.

"First, I need to find that sneaky little tin can," he muttered.


	22. A Tender Reunion

She had to admit, his plan had been solid so far. Atton had sent a T3 unit to infiltrate Vogga's droid warehouse and get the codes. He had then talked a Sullustan mechanic into exchanging the _Ebon Hawk's_ transponder codes with those of Vogga's freighters. After that, the two of them and the rest of the Jedi exile's motley crew just had to fly around the system for a bit before Goto found them.

It was decided amongst them that Atton and Mira would be the ones to board Goto's massive yacht, the humbly named _Visionary_. Everyone had wanted to come, but a small group was the safest bet for sneaking aboard and no one had wanted to fight with Atton over who got to go; he had been pretty adamant about it. Mira herself had been selected because she had the most knowledge of Goto and his methods. She may have exaggerated those claims a bit, but this was her paycheck.

Also, she'd be lying if she didn't admit she was a little curious about Atton and the exile's relationship. She'd never known a Jedi to get hung up on a guy before, but this guy sure was hung up on her. She'd gotten over her initial disappointment of that when she met the Disciple back on the_ Hawk_. Now there was a handsome man.

"I got the overload codes," Atton said after slicing a security console. "We'll have droids, mines, and turrets to face if we plan on using them though."

"The mines won't be a problem."

He raised an eyebrow at her but didn't question it. Before they left the cargo hold they had entered Goto's ship through, he managed to get shut down codes from an astromec unit as well. Hopefully they could use those to bypass the turrets Atton had seen over the security feed.

They fought their way through a few dozen combat droids. The troublesome ones were Goto's special favorites, hovering black bots with glowing red cameras. They came equipped with a multitude of weapons, not the least of which were a flame thrower and large metal spike. They managed to steer clear of the spikes at least.

She noticed Atton was even better with a blaster than she was. The one in his right hand looked like it had some impressive modifications. But like a man consumed, he was being reckless and it could lead to trouble later on. Hopefully, not for her.

As they entered a narrow hallway, a bolt of electricity hit Mira. There was a massive command droid blocking their path. She was frozen in place for a few seconds that felt more like a few minutes, but Atton sprang into action, moving in front of her and blasting it with that pretty weapon of his.

Unfortunately, two maintenance droids chose that moment to appear, repairing all the damage Atton had inflicted while she was in stasis. He continued to shield her as he fought off the command droid, and she took aim at the pair of worker bees and gave them an ion blast, immediately frying their circuitry and damaging the droid. Together, they finished him off and she was able to salvage access codes to Goto's system.

"Perfect," she said. "I found Goto's codes. These should give us unrestricted access to his containment system when we find a command console."

"Where will he be keeping her?" Atton asked.

She went with honesty.

"I'm not entirely sure. Goto doesn't exactly entertain guests on his ship often."

The security cameras had offered no clues either, but she was starting to feel a little bad for the pilot and the desperate look in his eyes.

Almost feeling sorry for him, she added, "Hey, I'm not sure what Goto wants with the exile, but she's a pretty valuable commodity. I seriously doubt he's going to hurt her."

"Let's just find her," he said, before moving further into the yacht.

It didn't take them long to locate a command console and shut down the containment fields. They half hoped that the exile would be released then and maybe even come find them, but that didn't happen. More of Goto's bots found them though. At least she had been right about the turrets, she had been able to deactivate those.

She'd been right about something else too. Halfway through a small battle with four more of Goto's little black bots, Atton fell to the ground.

"Damn," she said, tossing an ion grenade at the two still hovering in the doorway.

She really didn't want to fight her way through the _Visionary_ alone and anyways, she kinda liked the guy. He wasn't bad, in a hopeless kind of way. Not even her target assessor could pick up a lifesign though. She was about to check out his corpse, she didn't want to be crass, but that blaster he'd been using was way too nice to leave behind, when the target assessor zoned in on Atton again and he jumped to his feet.

"What in space just happened?" she gaped.

He shrugged.

"No, really," she went on, "how did you do that?"

"Call it willpower," Atton said, checking his blaster.

Mira had plenty of willpower. She'd made it out of being a slave, made it through the Mandalorian Wars. Hell, she'd even survived Malachor V. She had never seen _anything_ like that before.

It made her wonder, though. "What's the deal with you and the exile?" she asked.

"What do you think?" Atton said. "She's a Jedi."

Mira nodded, she had expected that. He jammed a stim-shot into his leg and they continued on like she hadn't just watched him die and come back to life or whatever had just happened, because what else was there to do.

It turned out she hadn't been as right as she thought about the turrets either. She had not in fact deactivated them; she had just increased their power and confused them. But it worked both for and against Atton and Mira. They opened the door to see the turrets firing at will on the command droids blocking their path. They watched on in amusement until the pair had been taken out and, but then the turrets turned their attention towards them.

She tossed a couple ion grenades down the hall at them, quickly backing away from the sliding door so it closed behind her. Once they heard the explosions from the other side of it, they entered back into the hall to find all the turrets and droids had been blown to bits.

"Pazaak," Atton said. "That was pretty slick."

"Would have been better if I'd realized what I was doing back at the command console," Mira replied.

Atton was still digging around in the heap of droid parts when she entered into Goto's audience chamber. Sitting on the floor in the center of the large round room was the Jedi exile, surrounded on either side by one of Goto's black bots. She stood when she noticed the door open and looked annoyed when she was it was Mira.

"You again?" said the exile.

"Now, here me out…"

Before she could get to explaining though, Atton pushed past her. When the exile saw him, her face changed and she ran to the pilot, giving him a big hug.

"I knew you would come for me," she said. "Goto said someone was here and I knew it was you."

Atton was looking down at the exile like she was some kind of snake or spider or something else you'd rather not have land in your lap, like he was afraid of her. But then he kissed her, hard on the mouth. It only lasted a second, if Mira hadn't been staring at them the whole time, she wouldn't have believed it had happened at all.

The exile pulled away, releasing him from her hug and stepped back, looking stunned. Atton's face was unreadable. It seemed like they had forgotten Mira was even there.

Mira stood there stuck in this awkward silence for as long as she could stand before saying, "I hate to break up this tender reunion, but shouldn't we get out of here?"

They both turned on her at once. The exile's expression was one of relief and Atton's was a mixture of anger and hurt.

"Of course," said the Jedi exile.

"Should we deactivate these sentry bots first?" Mira asked.

"Don't worry, they're friends," said the exile.

"Didn't you know," Atton said, "she makes _friends_ with everybody_._"

He then turned and stormed back down the hall they had just come through. The Jedi exile was looking after him with a pained expression.

"Don't worry about him," Mira said. "Some men just can't handle rejection."

The exile continued staring down the hall for a few more moments, before she spoke again.

"We better get go," she said, heading off in the direction Atton had just left in.

They found him in a maintenance room fiddling with his blaster at a workbench. The exile walked over to him.

"Atton," she started.

"Don't."

"Don't what?" asked the exile.

"Just don't," he said. "You'll think you're helping, but you won't be. Just don't."

The exile looked like she was about to say something else when Atton turned his face to look at her with a stony expression. The exile closed her mouth, looking less sure of herself. He finished up whatever he was doing with his blaster and holstered it.

"We'll have to get to the bridge and deactivate the docking hatch seal if we want to leave with our ship."

"Our ship?" said the exile, sounding relieved. "You'll stay?"

"What else would I do?" he asked, but his voice held none of its usual humor.

Now it was the exile's turn to look hurt. Maybe she had misjudged the woman; was it possible the exile was harboring feelings for the pilot too? Mira hadn't really even considered that.

The trio continued on in silence, making their way to the main bridge. Mira had never fought alongside a Jedi before, but if they were all like the exile, she could see how they'd earned their reputation. She made it look easy. When Mira and Atton pulled out their blasters to eliminate a room full of defense turrets, she never even pulled out a weapon. She simply raised her hand and lightning bolts blasted a group of them into parts like it was nothing. And when they ran into a command droid, she pulled out not one, but two lightsabers and batted it down like it was a defenseless kitten.

When they finally made it through the sealed hatch leading to the bridge, the exile started to run ahead, right through a mine field. Atton caught her before she could hurt herself.

"Would you pay attention?" he practically shouted. "You want to get yourself killed?"

Letting go of her arm, he said, "How are we going to get past all those?"

Mira stepped between them. "I told you," she said. "I've got this covered."

She then stepped out into blast zone of the first mine, careful not to set it off. Once it was disabled, she tucked it safely into a pocket of her utility belt and moved on to the next one. She did this along the entire length of the hall, and when she returned, she could see Atton and the exile having a quiet conversation. Or rather, the exile was having a quiet conversation and Atton was trying to pretend he couldn't hear her. Mira was half expecting him to shove his fingers in his ears.

"Ahem," Mira said, getting both of their attention. "The hallway is clear. Please, hold your applause until after the show. Tips are always appreciated."

At least Atton had the courtesy to smirk, the exile just looked confused.

When they finally made it to the ship's hub, it was just a matter of facing down a battalion of destroy droids, but between the exile's lightning hands and two lightsabers, those weren't much of a problem.

Once the coast was clear, Atton said, "What is this place? Some kind of control center?"

Mira looked around herself. She'd never seen so many systems and monitors in one place. This was not ordinary space flight stuff.

The exile said, "These systems aren't controlling the ship – they're tracking signals on a planetary scale – maybe even galaxy wide."

So that's where Goto was getting all his intel. Mira thought she might be able to find someone willing to pay for that bit of information back on the Nar Shadaa. When they finally reached the bridge, they found it completely empty.

"Who in the hell is flying this ship?" said Atton.

The exile ignored him and went straight to the bridge command console. Once she shut down the primary power, the secondary came on and an alarm sounded. Nothing for them to worry about though, they'd already decimated all the droids, so they headed back the way they came.

Except, they weren't alone anymore. When they made it back to the hall where she had disabled all of those mines, there was a squadron of Duros bounty hunters waiting for them. She raised her blaster and took aim at the same time as Atton. The Jedi exile darted ahead of them with lightsabers drawn. Both Mira and Atton took a few blaster hits before it was said and done, but as soon as the dust settled, they were surrounded by a glowing aura and when she looked down, her wounds had all closed up.

"It must be nice having a Jedi around," Mira said.

"Give it time," said Atton.

The exile said nothing. They entered into the exterior defense room where the exile had wiped out all those turrets and were met with a familiar pair of Twi'lek's, the Twin Suns, Seer'ra and Teer'ra. They were twins, like their name would suggest. It seemed Atton had met them before as well.

"Not these two again," he sighed.

"We meet again, handsome, strong... fearful human," said one of the Twi-lek's. Mira never could tell them apart.

"Next time," said the other, "strike to kill, not to wound. You will not escape this time."

"If that were true," he said with a sneer, "there wouldn't be a next time. I didn't run from you two schuttas last time – and this time, I'm going to make sure you stay down."

He blasted a sniper shot at the closest of the two Twi'lek. The exile flipped on a melee shield and tossed her lightsaber at the other, knocking the Twin Sun to the ground before it changed directions and reappeared in her hand. Mira joined the fray, rapidly firing at the same Twi'lek Atton had targeted.

When she had fallen, Atton quickly lunged for her spinning blade, a deadly double-bladed sword favored by Twi'leks. Picking it up, he spun it in the air and advanced on the remaining Sun. She was already hurting from repeatedly having a lightsaber thrown at her head, his finishing her off took little effort at all. Mira couldn't help but notice the brutality of killing their opponent with her twin sister's blade. When it was done, he dumped it casually on her corpse.

Afterwards, the exile looked questioningly at Atton. Seeming to be in a slightly better mood, he snickered.

"Yeah, they came looking for you in the cantina after you headed to the Jekk-Jekk Tarr," he said. "I knocked them out and left them there."

"Ah," said the exile. "Well, 'handsome', let's get back to our ship."

He only looked mildly annoyed as he followed after her. Mira shook her head.

When they made it back to the _Ebon Hawk_, they did so just in time. When they had deactivated the yacht's defenses and cloaking device, it had become a target. It looked like every bounty hunter and crime lord on Nar Shaddaa who had been wronged by Goto had found his ship and as soon as they were off of it, the _Visionary_ was blown out of orbit.

As they flew away from the blast, Atton said from the pilot's seat, "Just once, could we leave something without it blowing up?"


	23. Who We Are

The broken exile left her meeting with Zez-Kai Ell feeling weak and defeated. She had accepted that that was what she was now... Broken. Exiled. The former Jedi Master had been waiting for her in Mira's apartment. She had gone alone to meet with him because after killing all those bounty hunters on Goto's yacht, Mira felt Nar Shaddaa was no longer the safest place for her and had opted to stay aboard the _Ebon Hawk_. Now that the bounty hunters had been taken care of, her crew hadn't made a big fuss about her going off alone.

She headed straight for the cantina and ordered herself a drink. She swallowed it down in a few large gulps and asked for another. So much of what she knew was wrong. The Jedi hadn't been the ones to cut her off from the Force. They didn't even seem to know what had. The Masters were afraid of her, of what she was.

What was she? Looking back at the last decade of her life, she realized she didn't know. Kavar knew. He was the one who had decided all the Jedi should go into hiding, scattering throughout the galaxy. And he had known she would return. He was on Onderon, she knew she had to go find him and she really didn't want to.

When her second drink was gone, she ordered another. Force bonds... the Masters knew about those too, how she formed them so easily. Even Vrook had known. That was why people followed her so readily, why she'd always formed such close attachments to the people in her life. It made her question all of her current relationships, was no one on her side out of choice? Were they all just sucked in, against their will?

Atton took the seat next to her and ordered them another round. She hadn't noticed him enter the bar or that she'd finished another drink. She turned and looked at her pilot. Another thing she didn't understand. Something else she'd been wrong about.

He took a sip of his drink and set it down again before speaking. "Something up?" he asked.

"I met someone who says he knows you," she said.

"Yeah?" he said, picking it back up. "That's a surprise. Did he say I owed him credits too?"

"He says you're not 'Atton' at all," she said. Her tone was biting.

"I'm as Atton as Atton will ever be."

"Is there anything you want to tell me?" she asked sullenly.

"No, because you're asking about it," he answered. "If I wanted to tell you anything, I would have come and told you. Anything else?"

"No, you're right," she said. "I have no right to ask."

"Is this an interrogation?" Atton asked. "If so, you're terrible at it, especially for an ex-Jedi... or whatever you are. Why don't you just crawl in my head and try to dig out whatever you're looking for rather than asking about it?"

The hollowness inside of her felt as deep as it ever had. Putting her head down on the bar, she started to cry.

She stayed that way for what must have been a long time, her head in her arms, loud sobs wracking her body. Atton was saying something, but she couldn't hear what and she didn't care. The tears kept coming.

"Dammit Meetra, would you listen to me?!" he finally shouted.

She stopped. She looked up, her face puffy and swollen from crying and her mouth hanging open in disbelief. Panic and dread gripped at her. He knew who she was. He knew what she'd done. She wiped at her face with her sleeve and looked around the bar self-consciously. They had attracted quite a bit of attention from the other patrons.

"How long have you known?" she asked quietly.

"Long enough," he said.

"Who told you?" she asked. She didn't know it was possible to feel worse than she already had.

"Don't worry, your friends kept your secret. I'm smarter than I look. I fought in the war too, you know."

She had been afraid that would happen. She took a deep breath.

"I want to know where you were before you arrived on Nar Shaddaa," she said.

"You know what? Not once have I asked you about the Mandalorian Wars. Not once. I heard about Dxun. Everyone has. I heard about Serreco, and I sure as hell know about Malachor V," said Atton.

"I did a lot I wasn't proud of," she said weakly. "I am sorry for the lives that were lost, on both sides."

"I'll tell you," he said, "all those Jedi at Malachor? They deserved it. Every last one of them."

She gaped. "They did not deserve it. Why would you even say that?" She was practically yelling.

"Because Jedi lie," he said. "And they manipulate. And every act of charity or kindness they do, you can drag it out squirming into the light and see it for what it is. The galaxy doesn't need Jedi arrogance or Jedi hypocrisy anymore."

Is that what he really thought of her?

Taking another sip of his drink, he laughed a mirthless laugh and said, "At least the Sith are honest about what they're killing for. The Jedi are pacifists... except in times of war. They're teachers... except when it comes to telling their students the truth."

He slammed the empty drink down on the bar and said, "And when they save you, it's only so you can suffer more."

"You want to know what I really am?" he said angrily. He was starting to slur his words. "I'm a deserter. It's what I do. The wars, I served in both of them. Against the Mandalorians, before and after Revan, and again… When Revan declared war on the Jedi."

Her mouth fell open. She hadn't expected that.

"You… were a Sith?" she said.

"That's just a name," he said drunkenly. "It's what we did that was important."

Atton looked at her. His eyes were pleading with her to understand. But she didn't.

"It was more than that, though," he went on. "You were there, you know how easy it was to hate the Jedi who sat back in the Republic 'evaluating' the threat… and watched us die against the Mandalorians."

She remembered well how she had felt when Kavar had turned away from the war, how disappointed she had been. How much she had resented him. She wondered for the first time if that anger was what had led Revan to the dark side.

She didn't want to hear any more, but she couldn't stop herself. "Why did you desert?"

"Because you can't believe in the Republic after Revan, nothing was the same." Now he was the raising his voice. "After that final battle at Malachor, I was right there with the rest of the defectors, because it was the right thing to do."

She swallowed hard. How many times had she thought those exact words in the last ten years?

"That was wrong," she said. "You answered war with war."

"No, it wasn't. We needed the Jedi during the Mandalorian Wars, more than anything. They were slaughtering us by the millions. The millions. Without the Jedi who turned on the council – without _you_, the Republic would have lost the war, and we would all be Mandalorian slaves," he said. "Or corpses."

She slumped in her barstool. "Instead, you all became Sith."

They sat in an unhappy silence. New drinks had appeared in front of them as if by the Force, but she drank hers slowly this time.

"We were loyal to Revan," he said, after a while. She noticed he had not slowed down on the drinking. "That was enough. She saved us."

"So you followed Revan," she said quietly. "Like I had."

She could tell Atton was good and drunk and ready for a fight now.

"After Malachor, after the Mandalorian Wars, that's when the Sith teachings started spreading through the ranks. We knew where our loyalties lay," he said. "With the Jedi who came to help us, not the ones back on Dantooine and Coruscant, who just watched us die."

Dantooine? Horror gripped at her for a moment, could he have been with Malek when her home was destroyed? But she dismissed that thought almost as soon as it had come to her, he would _never_ follow Malek.

But he wasn't done. "So when those same Jedi who watched us die decided to start fighting us during the Jedi Civil War, we fought back. I fought back."

Her voice was almost inaudible now, even to her own ears. "How?" she asked.

"I started killing Jedi," he said. "A lot of them."

He finally looked over at her, that same pleading look was there in his dark eyes, but there was something else too. A coldness she had never seen before.

"People say killing a Jedi is hard. It's not," said Atton. "You just have to be smart about it. No blasters, no getting close to them, no attacking them directly when you can gun down their allies instead."

She felt like she was going to be sick, but wasn't sure if it was from the drink or what he saying.

"There's ways of gassing them, drugging them, making them lose control, torturing them. I was really good at it." He sounded almost proud, boastful even.

"You did all of that?" The question hung in the air.

"What's worse, is that killing them wasn't the best thing," he said. "Making them fall… making them see our side of it, that was the best."

"How could you?"

He hardly needed prompting at this point. "I taught myself… techniques. It's hard for Jedi to sense what you're really thinking if you throw up walls of strong emotions and feelings. Lust, impatience, cowardice… most Jedi awareness doesn't cruise beyond the surface feelings, to see what's deeper."

Was that why he had kissed her, she wondered? She realized she had her hand to her mouth and removing it, looked at Atton. He was looking back at her as though he knew what she was thinking.

Then, as if in answer to her unspoken question, he said, "I was good at that, throwing up walls, and my superiors knew it."

"Is that why you…" She almost couldn't get the words out, "act the way you do?"

"Part of it." He shrugged. "Maybe it was always me. It's hard to tell sometimes. I haven't known who I am for years."

Finally, something she understood. She got up and walked away from the bar. Away from Atton, whoever he was. She started to run when she passed the cantina's threshold, but she barely made it back to the landing pad before the bile she'd been holding in fought its way to the surface. She began to heave over the railing, the same one she and Atton had leaned against just two days before, after her lesson with Kreia. She did not stop until there was nothing left in her stomach.

Everything was different now.

And then, Atton was there behind her. He took her by the shoulders and led her back to the _Ebon Hawk_. She was distantly aware of him leading her to the starboard dorm. Then she was in her bed, alone, in the dark. Not even Visas was there.

She slept.


	24. Once a Jedi

Atton woke up in the pilot seat with a throbbing head and aching back. He didn't know why he was even here anymore. Or if she even wanted him to be. He got up and wandered to the starboard dorm, but the Miraluka was the only one there, her back to him, doing her creepy meditation as usual. He headed back out into the garage and found Bao-Dur.

"Have you seen her today?" he asked.

No need to say who 'her' was. He still couldn't think of her as Meetra Surik, not really. No more than he could think of himself as Jaq, anyways. If she didn't want to be that anymore, who was he to make her?

The Zabrak looked up from what he was working on. It was that black bot Goto had sent aboard to spy on them. Atton didn't understand why she'd allowed that to happen in the first place. Obviously it couldn't be trusted. Bao-Dur's own little remote droid was hovering over his shoulder as he worked, whirring anxiously, probably thinking the same thing.

"I have," said the Iridonian. "She's in the port dorm training with the other Jedi."

Super, the witch and the blond, two people he couldn't get enough of. Sighing, he headed that way. He stopped short of the doorway, just out of sight of those in the room. Leaning against the wall, he watched silently.

"Of course, it would be my pleasure." The pretty boy was talking, probably to her.

"Meditation envy?" said a voice from behind him.

Startled, he jumped, smacking his head into the wall he'd been leaning against. Mira laughed at him as he rubbed at his temples.

"Why don't you go sit on a rocket?" he said grumpily.

"Calm down," she said. "What's your problem?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I can guess," she said. "She looked as bad as you this morning."

"You know, Atton, sometimes it's no wonder you can't figure yourself out the way you lie to yourself all the time." Her voice was pounding in his head. "I've hunted a lot of people in my line of work, but I've never met someone who wants to get lost more than you."

"Actually," he said "I want _you _to get lost."

Mira said dismissively, "My advice? Come clean before I find out."

Like he cared at this point. There was only one person on this damn ship whose opinion mattered to him, and he'd already blown it with her.

As if she could read his thoughts she said, "And stop watching her. She's got enough problems. And definitely don't do anything stupid like kissing her again."

He glared at the bounty hunter. "You didn't tell anybody about that, did you?"

She started laughing again as she sauntered back down the hallway towards the main hold. His ex-Jedi must have heard her because when he turned back around, she was there, just inches from him, looking at him questioningly.

"Look," he started, then stopped again. He realized he didn't know what he'd planned on saying.

After an uncomfortably long silence she said, "We need to go to Onderon, do you think you can get us there in one piece?"

"Uh… yeah," he said dumbly.

"Good," she said and then walked off down the hallway in the same direction Mira had just left in.

So that's how it was gonna be now. He was about to storm down the hallway after her when someone bumped into him from behind. He turned around again to see Blondie looking surprised.

"Oh," said the Disciple. "I'm sorry, Atton, I did not know you were there."

"Yeah, well I was," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets in annoyance.

"Does the Master seem upset to you? She seemed distraught in our lesson, but I was unable to ascertain the cause of her distress."

Great, he thought. There was no way he was going to let himself get roped into that conversation with Mical.

Mumbling something about how she had seemed fine to him, he headed back to the cockpit. Taking his seat, he entered in the coordinates for Onderon, then leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. Atton was almost asleep when she entered the room. He wasn't surprised, he'd been expecting her. He stood to face her.

"Bao-Dur went to pick up some supplies before we leave Nar Shaddaa and Mira snuck off to her apartment to collect a few things," she announced. "We should be ready to head out in about an hour."

"Are we going to talk about it?" he asked.

"Talk about what?" she said, like she didn't know what he meant.

He just found her bad pazaak face incredibly frustrating right now.

"One day I decided not to do it anymore, so I left. Ended up here, on Nar Shaddaa, became someone else. Became Atton Rand."

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked.

Oh, now she didn't want to hear it? Well, that was too bad.

"Because you've killed Jedi, too. Different circumstances, but you have a bigger body count than I ever did."

"I may have only been with you a short time," he went on, "but long enough to know that as soon as someone signs on with you, they haven't got long to live."

He could see her swallow. He barreled through anyways.

"You've got history, and anyone who travels with you doesn't. And maybe, I want somebody to know who I was in case a story needs to be set straight. Maybe I want somebody to remember me. Maybe you understand."

"So why did you leave the Sith?" she asked.

"There was a woman," he said. "A Jedi. She… she gave her life for mine."

"Who was she?"

He shrugged helplessly. "I never knew her name. She sought me out. She said she had come to save me. She was lying, of course; at least, I think she was. It doesn't matter. She told me enough truth to get my attention."

"Truth about what?" She still hadn't moved from the doorway.

"She said Revan was doing something terrible to Jedi within the Unknown Regions. That anyone in her service who showed any ability with the Force was sent there, too. She said that's what would happen to me – that I had the Force inside me, that's why I was so good at killing Jedi."

She didn't look surprised by this admission. Atton had figured she'd known all along. He went on.

"I had heard talk in the ranks, troops vanishing. I knew what she meant, but I didn't believe her… or I didn't want to believe her."

He saw her move a step closer to him, but stop, just inside the cockpit.

"What did you do?" she asked.

It was his turn to take a deep breath. This was the part he'd been dreading. Not because of how she might react, but because he had to admit it all to himself in order to say the words out loud. Mira was right, he was a liar. To himself… to everyone.

"I did what I did with all Jedi. I hurt her. I hurt her a lot."

He could still see that woman's eyes, begging, pleading with him to let her go. He hadn't cared.

"And then, right when I thought she couldn't take it anymore," he said, "she showed me the Force. In my head. And I felt everything that she felt. Everything that I had done to her… and I heard just an echo of what the Force was. And how what I was doing…"

Atton put his hand to his forehead. His head still throbbed.

"I think I loved her," he said, and seeing the surprise on his ex-Jedi's face, clarified. "Not that kind of love. It was the kind of love where you're willing to give up everything for someone you don't even know."

She took another step towards him. This was the kind of love she could understand, the only kind of love she did understand. He knew. He'd seen it in everything she'd done since meeting her on Peragus.

"In the end, I killed her because I loved her. I felt her die, when she opened her mind. I've killed Jedi like I said, but I was never there to feel it, to be on the receiving end. So I left. I fled with the displaced war veterans to Nar Shaddaa and I lost myself here. I wanted no more of Jedi, or Dark Jedi, or the Force. I just wanted to be left alone."

He slumped, leaning against the back of the pilot's seat.

"I couldn't get away from what I'd done though. I saw her face every time I went to sleep. Those pleading eyes… And then I met you on Peragus."

He straightened and this time, _he_ took a step towards her. She had been quiet for a long time now and he had no idea what she was thinking. What was going on behind those inscrutable eyes of hers?

"It's not her face I see any more when I close my eyes. She's not the one who haunts me now."

Another step.

"I've known since Peragus and I'm not going to lie to myself anymore. I love you. Only, it _is_ that kind of love. I know it's stupid and I know you're a Jedi and I know you're going to get me killed but I can't help it. I love you, Meetra."

She flinched at the use of her name, but he had to call her something. Atton took another step towards her and she started to back away, but he wasn't going to let that happen. He wasn't going to blow it like he had on Goto's yacht… like he always had. Another step and he caught her by the waist with both hands. She looked scared and surprised but she didn't pull away this time.

He did what he'd been wanting to do since that first moment he'd seen her when she'd come storming into the Peragus prison.

He kissed her. A long kiss. A yearning kiss. A kiss that stopped time. And she kissed him back. She had held back at first, but then her arms were around his neck and he could feel the warmth from her body as she pressed against him. They stayed like that, kissing, for an eternity, or maybe it was just for a moment. He'd lost all sense and had no idea. He loved her, and he was pretty sure she loved him.

But then she did finally pull away and he felt terror. What would she say now? What would she do? Would she send him away? Her eyes were as unreadable as they'd ever been.

She spoke. "This… we… there's a reason this is forbidden by the Jedi Code. It opens you up to the dark side, to emotions like hate, anger… hurt." Her voice wavered on that last one.

He was ready for that.

"I don't believe that," he said. "No more than anything else anyways. I've always been opened to those, I've always felt those. And since I've been with you, I've never been more inclined to the do the right thing. You make me want to do the right thing."

He could see her considering what he had said. Atton wasn't done, though. He pulled her close to him again, he wasn't ready to let her go yet.

"Once, a Jedi showed me the Force. I heard it, I felt it," he was speaking into her hair. "At the time, there was too much pain to confront it – because if I did, it meant I would be something else. I'm not afraid anymore."

He pulled back enough so he could her face. The face of a Jedi. The face of his Jedi.

"I think that by learning to use it, I can help protect you. Or at least buy you some time when disaster comes screaming in. I want to learn how to use the Force. I want to learn how to use the Force to help you."

"Then I'll teach you," she said, smiling at him.

He kissed her again. A brief kiss, but it was interrupted by a cough coming from the doorway. They both turned at once to see Mira there, looking knowingly at them.

"I just wanted to let you know I was back from getting my stuff," Mira said. "I sliced the lock on the storage compartment and stashed it all in there. I hope that's alright."

His Jedi reddened and pulled away from him. Atton let her go reluctantly, but he didn't give Mira the satisfaction of showing any embarrassment.

She said, "That's fine, Mira. We were just…"

"Stop," said Mira, putting up her hand, "I don't want to know," and headed back down the hall.

He turned his attention back to his Jedi.

"What do I have to do?" he said. "Is there some… some ritual, or…?"

She laughed and motioned for him to follow. She led him off the ship and through the landing area. They stopped at the place Kreia had taken her to days before, near the railing. Fortunately, someone had come through and cleaned it since the night before.

She sat down on the ground, right in the middle of the crowded city. Atton felt a little awkward about it, but he joined her.

"Close your eyes," she said. "And open your mind."

Looking around him, Atton felt very exposed. And he never opened his mind in the presence of a Jedi; that was just asking for it. But he trusted her. He closed his eyes and opened his mind.

She said, "You must learn to feel it around you, feel its currents, its eddies."

He tried to do that.

"Listen to the echo of your thoughts, your heart," she continued. "Separated from war, separated from hate."

Atton tried letting go of his anger, his jealousy. In his mind, he could see Revan and Malek, Coruscant and Dantooine, he could see Mical and Kreia… all the things and people that he battled with, he watched them all float away.

"Think of what you felt when you felt the need to help me, to protect me."

He saw her fall again on Telos, he saw her being led away by those ghost women in Atris' compound, walking off to meet with Visquis, Mira telling him that she'd been taking to Goto's yacht. He felt what he had felt then.

"And at last, Atton… awaken."

And then he heard it. It was loud here, louder than when the dying woman had opened his mind to it the first time. That had just been a song playing in the other room; this was an orchestra playing in his head. He could feel the Force flowing through him.

It was disorienting at first, but when she stood, he tried to do the same.

"Careful," she said, putting her hand on his arm to steady him.

"It can be a bit much at first. The Jedi order doesn't usually take people so old for that very reason, they tend to want to jump in head first."

Atton said, "Is it always so loud?"

She shook her head.

"That's why I brought you here. This spot acts as a funnel for all the life Force on Nar Shaddaa. You're hearing all of the emotions, wants and needs of every living being on this moon. It'll quiet down a bit the further you get from this point."

"But we should go now and see if Bao-Dur's back so we can take off," she said. "We can train more, later."

She started to head back in the direction of the ship, but he caught her before she could make it out of arm's reach. One last kiss couldn't hurt.


	25. Manipulation

Outwardly, Kreia was careful not to let any of her frustrations at these recent… setbacks show. Inwardly, she was fuming. Of all the idiotic things for the Exile to do, this one she had not anticipated. All Kreia's careful planning could come to nothing if she did not handle this carefully.

The former Jedi Master had not left the port dormitory she had claimed as her sanctuary in some time, but she did so now. None of the Exile's extraneous companions spoke to her as she moved through the ship, and that was well. She had no time for such as they.

She found the source of her current cavil exactly where she knew he'd be, and alone for once. He jumped up at the sound of her entrance, and upon seeing her standing there, his expression soured.

"Were you expecting someone else?"

The fool said defensively, "I told her everything."

"Ah. And now you are free."

"Yeah," he said. "So no more threats, no more 'requests'. You and me, we're done."

This would be easier than Kreia had expected.

"Did you ever think I truly held you? You are more of a fool than I thought."

"No, I stay because of her. It has nothing to do with you," he said.

She would listen to his foolish lies no longer.

"What truly held you was you," she said. "And let me show you why. I once held the galaxy by throat…" And she would again. "… as you once held her by the throat, and let her die slowly. And your emotion at that point is what you fear, that you will do so again."

This boy thought he could mask his intentions well, but Kreia could plainly see his anguish without the need for eyes. In fact, she suspected eyes would not see. Good, he was paying attention.

"I can unlock that part of you anytime I wish. It is a simple thing, the human mind, particularly yours. Once it feels something strongly, it can become etched in the memory, the subconscious. It is made all the easier now that you are opened to the Force."

Kreia still did not understand why the Exile had chosen to do so, but it was not to be helped. The woman took unnecessary risks at every turn and Kreia had long since given up preaching caution. It fell on deaf ears.

"Shall I show you?" She very nearly smiled. "That part of you that hungers to kill Jedi, that took pleasure in it?

She dropped her hands to her sides.

"Or perhaps you will continue to listen to my counsel and I shall ignore your pathetic attempts at freedom."

The fool glared at her.

"I thought as much. Heed me, murderer, or you will regret it."

She exited the cockpit before he had a chance to respond. That should restore the balance some. Of course, if she had to eliminate this tool, she had others. Her new disciple was pliant enough, but he was so weak willed, even when compared to one such as Atton Rand.

Her new pet, however… He could be a powerful weapon. So strong, so angry. Unhindered by the Force. Yes, she would make use of him before it was done.

Kreia had intended to return to her sanctuary then, but as she passed back through the main hold she sensed something new. Mical, the pathetic excuse for a disciple, was standing in front of the holoprojector with a dim-witted expression on his face, but there was something else there. Something different.

"At last you understand, tiny Jedi."

He looked up from the navicomputer as Kreia advanced.

"What did you see in the web of worlds that have died?" she pressed. "What did you see when you saw it through the Force?"

He spoke as if in a trance. "I see the death of the galaxy. Of life."

Kreia let him continue, uninterrupted.

"At first… I thought it was just conquest, but it's more terrible than that. It's an echo, spreading outwards, killing everything."

He looked at her, as if noticing her for the first time.

"It's not possible," he said.

She had to suppress a sigh. "You are a wasted pawn of the Republic, young one. You could have been so much more, even with your wide-eyed innocence, your naïve love for others."

The tiny Jedi's gaze sharpened. Perhaps there was some hope for him yet.

"I know you," he said. "Not even the markings of the dark side can hide it. Why have you done this?"

Or perhaps not. This time she did sigh.

"I? Do you think I seek the death of all living things? There is no victory in such things. I do not want to win our war like this, little Jedi. When I win, I wish it to be because I was right, my teachings true."

Which they were. The galaxy would see that soon enough.

"I have been watching and listening to the echo you have found all along," she went on. "You know its source and what must be done."

Showing more spirit than she would have expected from the small man, he said "I won't let you hurt her."

Amusing, but Kreia had grown tired of this exchange.

"Little Jedi, you cannot stop me. But you will forget this. Your mind is worse than the others, so open, so trusting. Your feelings for her are your weakness."

As an afterthought, she added, "Yet I will gift you with this – you will remember what you have discovered… when the time is correct. Know that you have seen what formerly only I knew. Now we shall see if you have the strength to stop what comes."

Walking back to her portside quarters, she almost laughed. This day had turned out far better than she could have anticipated. Kreia found she was quite looking forward to her next lesson with the Exile.


	26. Lessons in Communication

She had not intended to get roped into a conversation with the G0-T0 bot. Having just finished a lesson with Kreia in the port dorm, she had been on her way to the cockpit to see Atton. They hadn't spoken since returning to the ship, there had just been too much for her to attend to for her to work in _that_ conversation, when the droid had accosted her in the main hold.

"…this unit has been assigned to protect you. As such, it is well suited for a variety of tasks. It's skilled in intimidation, interrogation, and can provide a series of select skills that will make it an effective killing machine."

He'd been extolling the values of his little black bot for a while now, but her mind was still focused on what she had learned in her most recent talk with Kreia. She'd learned much, but most concerning was about her former battle leader. Kreia claimed Revan had been her Padawn in the early days. Could she have been the one the Masters referred to in the video of her trial?

Kreia also claimed Revan never fell, that she turned to the dark side for a reason. That made no sense. The Revan she had fought alongside in the Mandalorian Wars would never have done that willingly.

A thought occurred to her and she interrupted the condescending crimelord.

"On the yacht, you mentioned Revan. But Revan sought to destroy the Republic."

"A common misconception not supported by facts," came the haughty reply. "Revan did not intend to destroy the Republic. She deliberately left the infrastructure of many planets intact – and many production facilities."

That didn't square away with anything she'd learned of the Jedi Civil War or the tactics of the woman she had followed.

"But why?" she questioned. "Revan had limitless forces."

"My prediction is that whatever production facility was being used, it carried a price that Revan perceived as detrimental to the goals of the Sith."

She couldn't help but be reminded of the Jedi Atton had killed. She had told him Revan was changing Jedi, breaking them somehow. She could see how a loss of free will could be detrimental…

"What about Malek?"

The bot answered, "Unlike Revan, Malek demonstrated no concern for the future of the Republic in his attacks. His stratagems were painfully obvious, intending to crush all resistance, everywhere. There was little thought beyond the complete destruction of anything that opposed him."

That did sound like the Alek she had known… he had even wanted _her_ dead at the end of the Mandalorian Wars.

She was about to ask another question when Mira popped her head out of the storage compartment she had claimed as her room.

"Got a minute?" Mira asked.

"Of course," she said, relieved to be pulled away from the overconfident Exchange bot.

Entering the storage compartment, she could see Mira had made quick work of turning the small room into her new apartment. She had set up a puff-cot, an inflatable bed, against one wall and she had turned one corner into shelf space. It was now covered in toiletries and weapons, with a large, white chest tucked away in the back.

The nonfunctioning assassin droid was still standing in the middle of the room.

"What's going on?" she asked the bounty hunter.

"Two things," said Mira. "One, is there anything we can do about this?"

She pointed towards the motionless droid.

"And two, what the hell were you thinking?"

She sputtered, trying to think of some witty comeback, something to deflect the conversation, but she couldn't. She wasn't like Atton, she typically said exactly what she meant or nothing at all.

"I… I don't know," she said finally. "I mean, of course, about the droid. I'll try and get him moved. But the other… I just… don't know."

She moved over to the unknown assassin unit and opened his circuit panel, pulling some tools from out of her belt pockets.

Mira said, "I mean, it's not like I can't understand, Atton's cute and all. But I thought you Jedi had rules against this sort of thing."

"We do," she said. "Or, we did. There's not really a Jedi Order left."

"So you just figure you can get away with it now?"

"It's not like that!" she said. "At least, I don't think so. I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing, really."

Actually, Mira probably new a lot more about these things than she did.

"Do you understand men?" she asked.

"Sure, they're easy" said Mira. "That's why I dress like this. When they're looking down to check you out, you can usually smash them on the base of the skull, or deliver an uppercut that knocks them flat."

She dropped the tool she had been using.

"…That could work. I guess," she said.

Mira went on. "It's simple – when you want a man, you jab him with a Bothan Stunner, then while he's screaming in pain, slap some stun cuffs on him. Then starve him for two or three days until he becomes open to suggestion, then double-check his bounty and see if he's worth anything."

Picking back up her micropoint, she said, "That sounds more like hunting…"

"Call it what you will," said Mira. "Me, I love my targets."

She looked up at the girl and saw Mira was laughing. Mira was teasing her. She sighed, she probably deserved that.

Straightening her face, Mira said, "But seriously, he loves you, that much is obvious. If you feel the same, just tell him. It's not that hard."

"You really think he does?" she asked the younger woman.

"Uh… yeah."

She was even more bewildered than before. If there was one thing she'd learned at the Jedi Enclave, it was that forming a romantic attachment to someone led to getting hurt. And that led to making poor choices.

She tried to lose herself in the droid repairs and it must have worked. She zoned out a bit after a while and had no idea how long she had been standing there when Mira broke the silence.

"Uh… heh… can I ask you something?"

Looking up from the circuits, she said, "Something wrong?"

The younger woman responded with, "Your face… you, well, you have this glow. I mean, not a real glow, but…"

Like the one Atton and Bao-Dur had mentioned? She said dismissively, "It's the Force."

"It's like you're hooked up to a power coupling, it's weird. I mean, not bad weird, just weird weird."

She went back to work on the droid.

"Heh…" said Mira, "for a minute there, I thought you and Atton… but it's just the Force."

Confused, she looked up from her work again. "Me and Atton what?"

"You know. Hooked up a power coupling, you know?"

It took her a few seconds, but when she realized what Mira meant, her eyes went wide and she felt her face go red. She sputtered again.

"It's not that kind of glow…" she said stiffly. "It's just the Force."

"Got it. Just checking."

Just then, the droid she had been working on whirred to life, causing both women to jump back in surprise. She was wary, but Mira, having had less experience with the ubiquitous assassin units, approached it.

"Hi," said Mira.

"Diagnostic: HK-47 activated. Running checks through primary systems."

She looked to Mira, who shrugged.

"Assessment: It appears I have suffered considerable damage and dismemberment. I can feel all the cracks in my motivators. And my central cluster seems to have taken several repeated blaster shots at close range. How crude."

"You look a lot like a series of droids that have attacked me," she said suspiciously.

"Answer: Oh, that is impossible, master. If I were out to kill you, we would not be speaking. And regardless, I am a unique model. Why, to think that there would be other versions of me would be unacceptable."

"Well," she said, "there's at least four other now defunct versions of you in the galaxy."

"Statement: Master, I must inform you that your attempts at humor are wasted on a droid such as I. As I have expressed, I am unique."

Not feeling like arguing with the machine, she moved on to more pressing concerns.

"You're an assassin droid?"

"Recitation: Yes, I am an assassin droid. It is my primary function to burn holes through meatbags that you wish removed from the galaxy… Master."

He then added, "Oh, how I hate that term."

She raised an eyebrow. "What, meatbag?"

"Answer: No, 'master.' Ah, I said it again."

She and Mira shared another look. She wasn't sure she liked the sound of it either.


	27. Following the Leader

Their landing on the Onderon moon, Dxun, had been quite dramatic and unexpected. Someone had warned the Onderon military to expect them and they had apparently taken great issue with their intrusion. A blockade opened fire on them, forcing the Ebon Hawk to make a covert landing on the moon.

Atton and Bao-Dur, along with the droids, had been left to repair the damages to the ship, and his Master had chosen him and Mira to act as escorts on Dxun's surface. When they disembarked, they were met with rain and jungle. Kreia had warned them also of large beasts that hunted here.

Mical scanned the area surrounding the ship, but saw none.

"So, where to?"

That was the bounty hunter who had joined their party on the smuggler's moon.

His Master said, "Atton is really not happy to be left behind."

Mira snickered, saying, "Well, what did you expect?"

The disciple could understand the pilot's reticence. He had been left on the ship for most of the events on Nar Shaddaa and had never ceased worrying over her safety. Most especially when she was captured by Goto. But he trusted in his Master and her foresight… At least, he tried to.

She had gifted Mical with a lightsaber before they had left the ship, he flipped the switch for the first time and the energy blade glowed a bright green.

Mira looked at him questioningly.

"Just testing," he said, embarrassed, before switching it back off. It was the first time he'd ever actually used one.

He noticed his master was staring off into the waterfall they stood before. Her face was a mask, but he sensed sadness there. He wondered why, but was fairly sure it would be impolite to inquire. She then shook her head, as if to as if to wake herself and motioned for them to follow. They started moving cautiously up a steep incline, but did not make it very far before they were faced with the large beasts Kreia had warned them about.

"Cannoks," he heard his Master mutter, more to herself than anyone else, before pulling out her lightsabers.

He still had his in his hand and flipped it back on. Mira raised a blaster unlike any he'd ever seen before. It looked to be a Mandalorian model. Mical moved in closer to the cannok, careful not to get too close to his leader and her precision saberwork.

He tried to mimic her movements, but controlling the lightsaber was much harder than he had anticipated. It looked so easy when she did it. He swung at one of the cannoks, but he must not have used enough force, it barely cut the beast.

Calming his insides, he raised his weapon once more and, using one of the forms she had taught him, sliced right through a cannok. He forced himself to stop at the last moment, or the energy blade would have continued its path and sliced clean through his Master as well. This was going to take some getting used to.

Noticing there were no more of the creatures around, he shut off his weapon.

"Be careful with that thing." She gestured slightly towards the weapon.

"Yes ma'am," he said, ashamed she had noticed his almost misstep.

She continued her path into the jungle and he and Mira did the same. There were more of the cannoks, but just before they could advance on the beasts, a catlike alien monster leaped from the shadows, ripping the slower cannoks to shreds.

They had barely entered the fray before another of the wiry little beasts ambushed them. This time he made sure to be outside lightsaber range of his Master, but he still had trouble controlling the glowing weapon in his hand. This was going take more work than he had thought. He breifly considered going back to his blasters, but no, that would be to admit defeat.

When they had cleared away the little monsters, Mira said, "What were those?"

"Maalraas," said his Master. "I believe they're distant cousins to nighthunters. They're aggressive, but they shouldn't give us too much trouble."

Mical had never heard of either of those things, but he started eying the dark spaces between the trees much closer then.

The comlink crackled and Atton's voice could be heard, "I've got some news. The space battle is still going on. The _Hawk's_ sensors picked up a contact heading to the moon. Most of our ship's systems are powered down, so that's about all I got. That ship may have landed nearby, though. Or it may be on the other side of the moon."

His Master nodded, as if Atton could see her response.

Atton spoke again, "So you might want to prepare for another friendly Onderon welcome. And for the love of pazaak, be careful."

This time she did respond. "You know me."

"Yeah, that's why I said it."

The link went quiet again and she led them further into the jungle. They soon came across a crashed Republic ship and his Master went to inspect the wreckage. Mical moved closer to her, nervous that the site was unstable and she could be injured. She bent down to examine a badly burned corpse and rose with a datapad in hand. As she read it, the disciple thought he saw a tear streaking down her face, but it might have just been the rain.

Just then, a loud crash of thunder boomed overhead and all three of them jumped. They all stood in silence for a few seconds.

Mira was the first to laugh. She said, "Look at us, as skittish as a couple of jumping spiders."

He and his Master started to laugh too, but it was an uneasy sound to his ears. She moved further into the wreckage and they found that the ship's computer port was now an external one, thanks to the crash, and badly corroded due to the weather. Mical watched her attempt to glean what she could from it.

When she was done, she turned to them and said, "Looks like the ship's droids made it out of the wreckage only to lose power in the jungle. They may prove useful if we come across them."

She was proven right of course, not long after when they came across the first of the downed Republic ship's remote combat droids and she repaired it, sending it into a cluster of cannoks so they did not have to put themselves at risk. It was a good plan and it worked. His Master merely stood back and locked the cannoks into a stasis field and watched as the droid and Mira mowed them down with laser blasts.

The second burnt body they came across, he found he could no longer deny the sadness that tugged at his Master's face and felt compelled to say something.

"Forgive me if I overstep, Master," he said, "but what is it about this place that distresses you so?"

She didn't look up from the body.

"Well. I fought here in the Mandalorian Wars. We lost the first battle over the Dxun moon and Revan didn't want to let that happen again. She was convinced that this moon would win or lose the war for us. I disagreed, but I followed orders and we lost almost my entire command. We won the day, but… at great cost. And Revan had been wrong; it didn't win us the war."

"I see." He was sorry he had brought it up.

"Well, let's move out," she said, sounding more determined.

Another comm message from Atton came through then, "The orbital fighting just ended. That Colonel Tobin stirred up a mynock's nest when he took a shot at us. I'm still working on repairs and I have to take down some systems, including sensors. So you'll have to do without me for a while."

He added, "I know, you're crushed." Mical didn't find Atton nearly as funny as he seemed to find himself. The link went quiet again.

"My my," said Mira, "however will we manage without him."

She then threw her head back in laughter, like she had just made some grand joke.

"Hush." His master's voice was light, but she wasn't able to hide her concern.

After they had fought through some more of the cannoks, his Master stopped, putting her hand to her forehead. She appeared to be disoriented so he rushed to her side to offer her support.

Brushing him off, she said, "Bounty hunters ahead."

Raising her unusual blaster, Mira moved to point. They didn't have to wait long to find them, as they rounded the next corner, they were met with a group of Duros standing in front of a flaming ship. There were three of them. Apparently they had fared even worse in the Onderon blockade than the _Ebon Hawk_ had.

One of them said, "You have led us on a very fine chase, human. The battle above was your doing, yes? Our ship is quite damaged now."

"Well," said Mira. "If it isn't the Zhug brothers. Sorry, but this one's my bounty, so keep those weapon barrels pointed down."

"Or quarrel is not with you, red-maned small female. We are far from Nar Shaddaa. And so are you."

The bounty hunter glowered. Probably at being called small.

His Master said, "I didn't start the battle."

"Your view is narrow, human," said the Duros. "The battle was your responsibility, whether you admit it or not."

She admitted no such thing, but Mical caught her glancing up at the sky. Surely she could not believe what this scum had said?

"In some sense we are doing you a favor. The reception you would receive on Onderon would be a cold one."

"What do you mean?" This time the disciple could plainly see the worry on her face.

"You have caught the eye of someone very powerful on Onderon. And he wants you dead. But enough talk, this has gone on long enough. Brothers, shoot them."

He saw Mira and his Master switch on energy shields and he did the same and prepared to attack. There was hardly any point this time, he saw the cyan blur of his Master's lightsaber hurled through the air, knocking down the Duros who had acted as spokesperson for the Zhug and advance on one of the two who stood behind him.

At the same time, Mira tossed an adhesive grenade in the center of the two remaining, stopping them in their tracks. By the time he reached the final Duros, Mira had already taken it out with her blaster. He flipped his lightsaber back off, having not even used it.

"So," said Mira, "Who did you already manage to piss off on Onderon?"

There was a long pause before his Master said, "I'm not entirely sure."

"Well," said the bounty hunter, "whoever it is, we'll find out soon enough."

Their leader stood where she was for a moment, quiet and thoughtful, before she motioned again for them to follow. Still wondering who was on Onderon, he followed. When they came across another crashed Republic ship and skeletal corpse, his Master found another datapad. As with the first one, she didn't share the contents with them, but she appeared visibly shaken. She tucked the datapad into a pocket without comment and headed further into the jungle.

The higher in altitude they rose, the rains cleared up, but a dense fog took its place, severely limiting visibility. They were surprised by a pack of maalraas, but they had been prepared for that, so it wasn't a serious threat. But then they came across something they weren't expecting. Another corpse, this one Mandalorian.

"Watch it," said Mira, "there's a body over there."

They moved in close to inspect it. The bounty hunter bent down, searching for clues.

She stood, saying, "A lone Mandalorian. Fresh kill, too. I can't figure the percentage in them still being on this rock."

His Master was speaking to herself again. "Why would the Mandalorians return here?"

Mira didn't seem to notice. "Could be all sorts of reasons. He's probably employed by someone. All of them are these days. There may be more of them around. Keep your weapons ready."

Mical did not need to be told this. If there were Mandalorians around, he would be alert and ready at all times. They moved cautiously on.

They were right to be wary; they soon came to a campfire, surrounded by Mandalorian banners. Seeing no one, all three of them moved in towards it. Upon their reaching the fire, three armored Mandalorians uncloaked, revealing themselves from their hiding places. They were surrounded.

One of the sentries said, "I'm surprised you got this far – the jungle doesn't usually let its prey go that easily. What are you doing here?"

"What is it with Mandalorians and this damned moon?"

He looked at his Master, surprised to hear so much hostility in her voice. The events of Dxun must weigh heavily on her.

"We claimed this moon decades ago when we reforged ourselves after Exar Kun's defeat. Some of us call it home. Why are you trespassing here?"

"Our ship crashed, and we were forced to land here," she replied curtly.

"We expected as much," said the sentry. "Few visit Dxun by choice. We have orders to escort you to our camp – our leader wants to speak to you."

"Lead on then."

She looked weary, but they followed the men into a fortified and massive Mandalorian compound. They had cleared away much of the Dxun jungle to construct this. He was impressed by the mere scope of the project. His Master was led away to meet with their leader and he and Mira were not permitted to follow. Mical did not like this and said as much.

Mira looked at him and laughed. "Not you too?" she said.

"Not me, what?" he asked, confused.

She laughed again. Mical tried not to think unkindly, but he always got the impression she was laughing at him. He spent the time looking around the compound. By his count, there must be nearly a hundred Mandalorians here. Some were training, some were guarding, and some appeared to be watching them. He made sure to give them nothing to take issue with.

When his Master reappeared, she said to Mical, "I need you to return to the ship. Stay there, but send Kreia; I fear I'll have need for her. One of the Mandalorians will go with you."

He was about to object when she stopped him, putting her hand on his arm like she had that first day on Dantooine.

"Please," she said.

"As you wish." He found he was having difficulty centering himself with her so near.

Then she added, "Oh, and tell Atton I'm fine."


End file.
